Let Go
by Descena
Summary: During death, Stephanie's life during the past few months flashes before her eyes. Lies are revealed, betrayals are discovered and it's a time in her life where friends and family are needed.
1. Chapter 1

Not my first fic, but it is my first WWE fic. I don't own anything. The McMahons and WWE Inc. does

* * *

Everyone says that before you die you see your life flash before your eyes. Just before that big moment, when your car smashes into another; or when you're staring down the barrel of a gun; or when your arm tingles and your vision begins to blur, you get that bad feeling within your gut knowing that something terrible will happen. It is at that second that you become conscious to the fact that you won't be home for that dinner; or that you will miss that mornings meeting. That's when the time comes for that question… _'Was my life complete? Did I regret anything?'_

Stephanie McMahon-Levesque regretted nothing. At least she thought she didn't. Of course she had those bumps in the road when fate dealt you a hand that you couldn't play. Everyone hated Stephanie's on- air personality, but personally and professionally, everyone adored her. They respected, admired and idolized her. Most people at least. Stephanie was a hard working person who could never stay in one place if her life depended on it. She was a McMahon and like her family, she put the business and its fans in front of everything else and devoted her time and efforts into their empire. But Stephanie was always someone who was torn between her own family, business, her friends and herself. She put everyone in front of her own well being to the point where sometimes her television personality did come out, just as her fathers always had.

So, for Stephanie, yes, your life does flash before your eyes. You realize your mistakes and you see the path that you were walking. You see your life in the eyes of others and it scares you to death. That's what Stephanie felt now. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't move, and she felt cold. She heard sounds that she couldn't describe, smelled things that she hadn't smelt before and felt nothing but pain. It was the question that echoed over and over in her mind as she heard shouting from somewhere. That question… _'Am I dead?'_


	2. Chapter 2

The McMahons and WWE Inc. own everything. I, nothing

* * *

The first chapter was foreshadowing...so, this story is working it's way from the ending to the beginning in a way. All of these coming chapters are working it's way up to the time frame of the first chapter ...

...just in case you didn't get it.

* * *

Stephanie pulled back the curtain slightly and peeked outside at the growing crowd. Stephanie's eyes brightened and she smiled watching the crowd as they grew with excitement as the show came closer and closer to starting. No matter how many times she stood in the center of a crowd, Stephanie could never get over the amount of people that came to see the show that she and her fellow workers and family worked so hard to give them. There was nothing else in the world quite like that feeling that she and the other wrestlers would get standing in the center of all that energy from the crowd. "Amazing, isn't it?" a voice said beside her.

Stephanie turned sharply to the face only to be greeted by John Cena's smiling face. Stephanie blushed slightly and nodded. "Yeah…there's nothing like it," she whispered with a slight longing in her voice. She unquestionably missed being the dominant female sometimes. Stephanie quickly gathered her wits once more and flashed John a smile as she closed the curtain and began to walk back to her office, with John quickly beside her. "I honestly didn't think so many people would fill up the arena," she admitted. "I mean, the show sold out within a day."

John shrugged. "Of course, they came to see the champ," he joked.

Stephanie chuckled and walked through the hallway. "So what can I do for you John?"

John quickly jogged up in front of her and stood in front of her, holding out his hands and stopping her, with a serious look on his face. "Alright, hold up right there," he said. "First of all, I was making conversation. Is everything always business with you?"

Stephanie frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "No, it's not _always_ business."

John nodded. "Okay, good. Second…" he paused, deciding if he should even discuss what he wanted to with Stephanie. John watched her begin to get irritated and he sighed bringing his hands down and relaxing his shoulders. "Second…Steph, why don't you go back on TV?"

Stephanie stepped back for a minute, surprised by his question. "What do you mean?"

"Come on, Steph, who are you fooling? You know you want to be back out there," John said.

Stephanie shook her head. "John, I was on television four months ago, remember? And I just got married…"

Before she finished, John was shaking his head. "No, I mean _really_ back on television. Not being your parents lackey's like Shane is. I mean, exactly who you were on screen when I first came around."

"Back when I was general manager? On Smackdown?" Stephanie asked astounded.

"Yeah! Steph, you were on top of your game. You were doing your thing and hell, even the fans were taken to you!" he exclaimed. "Even you gotta admit that it feels good to see those signs that ain't disrespecting you and to hear those cheers for you."

Stephanie smiled. "Yeah…it does."

"See? You even sound like you wanna get back out there."

"Yeah, but John, I'm not a wrestler," Stephanie reminded him.

John rolled his eyes. "I know," he muttered.

"Hey!" Stephanie pouted.

John raised his hands up again then flashed her a grin. "Look, Steph, you know what I'm saying. You're the head of the creative team now, so you can do whatever the damn well you please. I'm just saying, if you were caught up somewhere in the storyline, I think it'll be great."

Stephanie nodded. "Well, thank you, John and I will consider it."

"That's all I wanted," he smiled.

"Okay." As Stephanie moved past him, once more to her office, she noticed he didn't budge. "Was there something else John?"

John winced. "Uh, yeah…business related."

Stephanie rolled her eyes and smiled. "After all that…"

"Yeah, so? I gotta work on my game… Look, it's about the title defense next pay per view."

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Well that's just it…there's no title defense," he told her.

Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "That's because you're going toe to toe with that celebrity, aren't you?"

"He's hardly a celebrity," John scoffed. "I mean, he's never around Raw. You got that whole DX and Rated RKO thing, which by the way is a lame ass name…"

"Rated RKO?" Stephanie questioned. "I didn't come up with that."

"I'm just saying…gimme some competition. I don't have any matches tonight."

Stephanie nodded. "Okay, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks Steph, I owe you one."

"Yeah, I'd like to see that," she replied smiling while she turned towards her office. When Stephanie opened the door to her office, she saw her husband Paul sitting on the couch with his best friend Shawn. As she walked by her desk, Paul stood up and kissed her.

"Hey," he greeted her.

"Hey," she smiled at him. "What're you two doing in here?"

"Just going over the card for tonight," Paul answered. As Stephanie walked past him and sat at her desk, he shoved his hands in his pockets and nodded his head at her. "What about you?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Just running the show."

Shawn smirked at Paul as Stephanie picked up her radio and turned it on. It was one of the many ways that her and her team could communicate with each other quickly. As Paul shot Shawn a glare, Stephanie instructed the crew members to begin the ten minute warning. Just as the order was carried out she turned on the television to the USA network as the arena began to explode with cheers.

Shawn stood up and clapped his hands together. "So…I guess its show time then, huh?" As he walked toward the door, he patted Paul on the back. "See ya out there man."

"Yeah," Paul nodded, but his attention was solely focused on his wife. After a few minutes, Stephanie finally noticed that Paul was staring at him intently. She looking up from her paper work and gave him a questioning look. "Want to tell me what's bothering you?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Nothing."

Paul nodded, unconvinced. "Really?"

"Yeah."

Paul sighed and walked over to Stephanie, kneeling in front of her. "I've known you for years Steph, and we're married now," he stated. "I think I know you a little better than you think."

Stephanie sighed. "Paul…it's nothing, okay?"

"You sure?"

"Yes. It's nothing that a McMahon, like myself, cannot handle."

Paul nodded. "You're a Levesque too, though," he said quietly

Stephanie sighed again and softly kissed Paul. "It's nothing."

Paul smiled at her. "You realize that won't shut me up, right?"

Stephanie returned his smile. "Well, then I guess I have to do a little something more than kiss you, huh?"

Paul's smile never faded. "I guess so."

As Stephanie leaned in and kissed him once more while undoing his belt buckle, she never heard the radio as the crew member announced the beginning of the show and the pyro went off as the theme music blasted throughout the arena.


	3. Chapter 3

Stephanie groaned and rolled over on her bed as her cell phone started to ring beside her successfully waking her up. Stephanie glanced over at Paul lying beside her to see if he had woken up. As the ringing continued, Stephanie snatched the phone from the night table and flipped it open. "What?" she asked annoyed.

"Is that any way to answer your phone?" her father asked.

Stephanie titled her head to look at the alarm clock. "It's six in the morning Dad. Someone better be dead," she replied dryly.

"My God are you not the early bird," Vince chuckled.

"Dad…" Stephanie warned.

"I just wanted to call and inform you that we have a meeting with the board this morning at ten," he informed her.

"So you had to call me four hours in advance?" she wined.

"I called you earlier because I know that you wouldn't get here on time if I didn't," he replied. "Most people would be grateful that I am letting them know in advance so they don't make idiots of themselves by showing up late."

"I'm not like most people Dad."

Vince laughed over the phone which caused Stephanie to frown. "I know you're not, Princess."

"What's this meeting about anyways?"

"I have no idea honestly," Vince answered. "The directors called it, not your mother or me."

Stephanie sighed. "Alright, I'll get up now so I can beat traffic."

"That's my girl."

Stephanie chuckled and closed the phone, throwing it down on the bed as she rubbed her eyes. She looked over at Paul and wondered if she should wake him up and have him join her. He had always sat in dozens of meetings with her, even offering his own ideas and input. Stephanie quickly and quietly got out of the bed and walked into the bathroom wondering what the meeting could possibly be about.

* * *

The second that Stephanie made it into the building for the meeting, she saw her family waiting outside for her. She smiled and hugged each of them, greeting them. She then turned and looked through the glass office. "So what's this meeting about?" she asked, looking back at her family.

Shane shrugged. "We really don't know."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow in question. "We're the McMahon's and we don't know?" she asked amused.

Vince chuckled slightly. "Just standard procedures and few changes," he admitted. He grabbed his wife by the waist and smiled at his children. "Let's go, shall we?"

The family nodded in agreement and headed into the office greeting the partners and took their rightful places at the conference table. Just like her father had said, the meeting was primarily about the ratings between Raw and Smackdown and the direction on certain storylines and superstars. During the duration of the meeting, one of the senior partners, Frank, turned to Stephanie to specifically ask her opinion about the direction of the WWE.

"So, Mrs. McMahon, what do you think?" Frank asked.

Stephanie looked up from her reports and looked at him through her glasses. "About…?"

Frank gave her a small smile, amused by her in every way_. So young and naïve, yet a McMahon at heart_. "About the direction of Raw and Smackdown. Do you believe there should be any changes?"

Stephanie bit her lip and looked at her family before sighing and taking off her glass, placing them in front of her and folding her hands. "I think there can be changes, yes," she admitted.

Vince leaned forward suddenly very interested in what was being discussed. "Like what?" Frank pressed.

"Well…the divas for one," she answered.

"What about them?" Vince asked his daughter.

Stephanie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose feeling a tension headache coming. "I think that there are less female wrestlers and more skimpy women in bikinis seducing the wrestlers, and acting like a ditz, walking around the arena. That's a waste of talent and money."

"We've never had a problem with this in the past," Frank pointed out.

"Because we had more than four active female wrestlers too," Stephanie shot back. "There are no good rivalries between women. They're always seducing the wrestlers and standing behind them."

"But when the business became big, women wrestling was frowned upon," Vince said. "It was never thought of."

"And what is it that we do the best, Dad?" Stephanie said turning to him.

"Not give a shit," Shane answered for his father, smirking at Stephanie, amused.

Stephanie nodded her head and watched her father's face fall. Linda nodded as well and turned to her husband. "She's right. Women need to play a bigger part in this business like they used to."

Frank nodded. "Okay, Stephanie. What exactly did you have in mind about that? How can we introduce females back into the ring?"

Stephanie thought for a minute then shrugged. "I'm not entirely sure really. But I can certainly work on it."

"Ok. What about this John Cena?"

"What about him?" Stephanie asked.

"Well, the ratings show us that DX and Cena are the fan favorites of Raw. Currently however, Cena has no title defense for the PPV."

"He has that celebrity though," Shane said. The turned to his father. "What's-his-name?"

"Kevin?"

Shane nodded. "Yeah, him."

"But the ratings during those segments suck," Stephanie said at once. "I honestly don't know why you wanted that," Stephanie questioned her father.

"Well, what can be done to help it?" Frank asked.

"We could pair a superstar with Kevin. Stack the odds against the WWE Champion and get better and longer segments since this Kevin cannot be at Raw every week," Shane suggested.

"Yes, but whom?" Linda asked. "All the wrestlers we have in Raw are currently somehow involved in a story."

"Well, why not bring back a legendary star?" Vince suggested.

"What, you mean like Hogan or Rock or something?" Shane asked.

When Vince nodded Stephanie immediately suddenly shook her head. "No, no. We need fresh blood. New people, new talent. We're going to lose fans and a following if we use the same wrestlers over and over constantly bringing them back into the ring."

"It's a good idea," Vince frowned, slightly offended.

"Both are actually," Linda jumped in. Both McMahon's looked at her as if she were crazy. Linda immediately held up her hands signifying that she didn't want an argument. "I mean, why not do both? Bring in a recognizable wrestler that fans will take too right away. The way they react to them will determine whether or not they are a face or heel. Then we can have Stephanie bring in a new talent and spice things up."

Both Vince and Stephanie looked at each other and nodded, silently agreeing to the suggestion. "That's not bad," Vince smiled at his wife.

Frank nodded, pleased. "Okay. One last thing before we adjourn. Raw still has no General Manager. On one of the websites that myself and a few others have run across, the question was raised on whether or not any of the McMahon's will return on television." Frank paused and looked at each of them making sure they had his attention. "I propose that we put both Shane and Stephanie in the position of General Manager."

Stephanie's jaw dropped and she looked at Shane then back to Frank. "You're kidding me."

When Frank didn't answer, she scoffed. "Why not, Steph?" Shane asked.

"For one, I haven't even had my honeymoon yet. I just came back to the road," she answered. "And for the second…." Stephanie paused. _What was the second reason?_

"Stephanie, it's perfect. We can have one playing the bad guy and the other the good guy," Vince said happily. "It's perfect! It'll create so much drama!"

Stephanie still shook her head, unsure. "I dunno…"

"Come on, Stephanie," her mother whispered to her. "Your father and Shane are right. It's perfect for television. And it gets you back out there," she added.

Stephanie smirked. _Yeah…the Billion Dollar Princess returning to television…returning to Raw._


	4. Chapter 4

Once Stephanie made it to the arena five hours later, she went straight towards Paul's locker room hoping to tell him all about the meeting. She herself was excited as well as cautious about the whole appearing on television again. She had done it briefly before, then much to her dismay, both her family and the board of directors frowned upon it. Stephanie hoped this time it was different.

Stephanie pushed open the locker room door labeled 'Triple H' and stepped inside. Stephanie sighed in disappointment when she didn't see Paul anywhere in sight. Stephanie looked around and saw her bag laying on the floor and picked it up, opening it to check and make sure it was hers, and then she left the room and headed for her office. When she reached her office she saw Shane already in there sitting in the far corner of the room.

"Hey little sis," he smiled.

Stephanie raised an eyebrow and dropped her bag on the desk. "Shane? What're you doing in my office?"

"Well, since we're both the General Managers of Raw, which means that we both direct and produce the show," Shane clarified. "I thought I'd just drop in and say what's up." Shane walked up to Stephanie and shoved is hands in his pockets and shrugged his shoulders. "What's up?"

Stephanie giggled at her brother and sat down at her desk. "You haven't seen Paul by any chance, have you?" she asked hopeful.

Shane shook his head. "No, I just got in. You two didn't fly here together?"

Stephanie frowned and opened her laptop. "No, I had told Paul that he could go ahead without me."

"Then what's the problem?" Shane questioned.

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know. He hasn't even called. I expected him to at least do that."

Shane nodded and leaned against her desk. "He doesn't know you're going back on television," he stated.

Stephanie blushed slightly and shook her head slowly. "No," she whispered.

"Then call him."

"I'd much rather tell him face to face."

"Okay, your call. Just trying to help."

"And I appreciate it. Really," Stephanie smiled.

Shane smiled back at her and stood up straight. "You ready for tonight then sis?"

"To get booed at by millions of fans?" Stephanie questioned. "I'm a McMahon. Of course I'm ready."

* * *

Paul slammed his fist onto the door of his locker room causing the door to fly open. Paul grunted then slammed it shut. To say he was pissed off would be an understatement. He was furious. Since when did other wrestlers, stupid ass newbie's no less, get a win over the game? Paul pushed back his hair and decided a shower would be best, not only to wash all the sweat from his body but to calm down before Stephanie walked in.

A pang of guilt hit Paul and he frowned while drying himself off and changing. He was told that Stephanie was looking for him but he avoided her. And why exactly? Paul had no idea. He just simply didn't want to be with her at that time. When she left for the meeting, without him, he was able to sleep in and leave the hotel at his own pace and not with Stephanie barking at him to hurry up. _It's alright,_ Paul thought_, I'll make it up to her tonight. _

Paul turned on the television to watch the ending of Raw where there were rumors of a huge announcement at the end of the segment. Paul laid down comfortably on the couch and pulled out his cell phone. He expected Stephanie to come in after his match by now so he dialed Stephanie's cell phone number and waited but she never answered. _How busy could she be? _Paul stood up and prepared to go and search for his wife himself. Just as he reached the door he heard a certain song on the television. In fact, he heard it in the building as well and he slowly backed up to look at the television…to see his wife walking down the ramp. _Live?_

He stared at the screen in complete shock not even realizing that John had walked into his locker room. "Yo, man, you got any extra tape wrap?"

Paul didn't answer or glance in his direction. Cena frowned and positioned his belt onto his shoulder and walked into the locker room and stood beside Paul watching what he was. Cena immediately smirked and put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing. Paul finally sensed him and stared at him, almost growling. "What's so funny?"

"Yo," John began, "I know I told her going back on television was something she should do but I never actually thought that she'd do it!"

Paul stared Cena down then switched his attention back to the TV when Shane was coming down. _Wait a minute, Shane and Stephanie in the same ring? Together?_ Both men watched the television curiously while Shane informed them all that Raw still had no general manager and hadn't in months. They only had transition GM's and that the McMahon's have decided that it was time that something changed.

Paul raised his eyebrow in curiosity as Stephanie then took the mic. Stephanie smiled as the cheers for her and the chants of 'Slut' were heard. "What my dear brother is trying to say," Stephanie told everyone. She paused as the chants got louder and louder and she tried to keep a straight face. She couldn't believe they were actually cheering for _her_. "What Shane means to say," she continued. "Is that as of right now…we are the new General Managers of Raw!"

Paul's mouth dropped open and John stopped laughing. _Did she…?_ Paul thought. _She's the GM of Raw? Back on TV?_ Paul was in so much shock that he didn't even register Shawn walking in the locker room. "Paul, my boy…" he started.

When Paul didn't respond, Shawn looked questionably at John, who only shrugged.

"Paul…"

"She didn't tell me," Paul whispered.

"What?" John asked.

Paul turned towards them. "Stephanie didn't tell me…"

Shawn smirked. "Well, she was trying to look for you all night."

Paul mentally slapped himself. _Of course!_ "But still!" Paul argued. "She's a McMahon! Stephanie never had any problems finding me when she needed to."

John shook his head. "I don't think that's the issue man. You were probably just off doing your thing and she didn't want to bother you."

"Or maybe she didn't think it was a big deal," Shawn added.

"Not a big deal!" Paul yelled. "We've been married for a week and she's back on TV? She promised she wouldn't go back so soon!"

John looked up at the TV and saw Shane and Stephanie making their exit. "Yo, I think this is the time we make our grand exit," John told Shawn.

Seeing Paul's face, he nodded quickly. "I think you're right." He looked at Paul and placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "I'll call you, alright?"

Paul mumbled something Shawn couldn't make out and walked out of the room with John. As they walked out, they saw Stephanie and Shane with a crowd in the back as the show went to commercial. Shawn sighed and walked over to her. "Steph," he said approaching her. "You got a minute?"

Stephanie turned around to see Shawn and John standing beside her both looking serious. The smile from her face disappeared slowly as she nodded. "Yeah…sure."

Shawn led her away from the group so they were out of earshot. "You didn't tell Paul that you were going back on TV, did you?"

Stephanie let out a frustrated sigh. "I tried, okay?" She looked at them both. "Is that what this is about?"

"Steph, Paul's pretty pissed," John told her. "Maybe more shocked, but still pissed."

Stephanie nodded. "I'll talk to him."

"And say what?" Shawn asked.

Stephanie shrugged as she began to walk away. "I don't know," she admitted.

As Stephanie got closer and closer to Paul's locker room, she began to grow nervous._ The promise_, she suddenly remembered. She had promised Paul that she wouldn't return to TV so quickly, just to keep her out of harms way and away from any family feuds, like the one she had when she was GM of Smackdown. She had promised and a week later, broke that promise. Now she was dreading seeing Paul. Stephanie bit her lip and prepared for the worse as she turned the door knob to Paul's locker room.


	5. Chapter 5

I forgot to mention; There really is no timeline. I'm taking certain events and putting them into my own timeline so the story flows better. But it is the year 2006. If you're still confused, then tell me and I'll try to explain it more... :-)

* * *

Stephanie walked into the locker room and saw Paul sitting on the couch staring into space. "Paul?"

Paul didn't even look at her as she walked up to him letting the door shut behind her. "A week, Steph. We've been married for a week and you already broke one of your promises."

"Paul," Stephanie whispered.

"Steph, you going back on television wasn't a big deal, it never was. But the big deal now is that you told me one thing and you did another," Paul said finally looking at her. "What does that mean for out marriage?"

"Paul," Stephanie tried again.

But he ignored her. "If you can't keep a small promise like this, then how I trust you with the big things in our lives?"

"Paul…"

"I mean the least you could've done was told me or asked me…"

"Will you let me speak dammit!?!" Stephanie yelled. Paul looked at her, shocked, but simply nodded. Stephanie sighed. "First of all, I tried to tell you and I don't have to ask. Secondly, I was cornered by the partners and my family. What exactly do you expect me to do?" Stephanie demanded.

"Say no?"

"And pass by an opportunity like this?" Stephanie asked. "Paul, the ratings suck. The storylines are ridiculous, petty and have no depth anymore. There has to be a change somewhere."

"Stephanie, you know I have no problem with you going back on TV, but…"

"I fucked up! I know this, Paul. You don't need to keep shoving it in my face. I made a judgment call that obviously wasn't the right one," Stephanie said. "But, just because we're married doesn't mean I have to answer to you or ask for your permission for every god damn thing!"

Paul sighed and patted his leg, motioning for Stephanie to come and sit on his lap. Stephanie wiped a few tears off her cheek and looked at Paul closely, surprised at he easily and quickly he had calmed down. Stephanie sniffled and sat in her husbands lap, wrapping her arms around his neck as he kissed her temple.

"You're right," he whispered. "And I overreacted. I'm sorry."

"Me too."

"I think it's a good thing that you're back on TV," Paul continued. "We need you."

Stephanie smiled at his comment. "Yeah, you guys suck without me."

Paul snorted and Stephanie hit him softly on the shoulder. He smiled at her and captured her lips with his.

* * *

John swung his duffle bag over his shoulder as he pulled out the keys to his rental car. He smiled to himself as he replayed the whole scenario where Stephanie and Shane announced they were the General Managers of Raw. He couldn't believe that Stephanie had taken his advice. The only thing that made John uneasy was Paul's reaction to it. Before the show even went on air, he helped Stephanie look for Paul, but he couldn't be found anywhere. By the time his match was up, Stephanie had decided to stop searching so hard, figuring he was in the gym or something. John never mentioned to Stephanie, or Paul, that he had seen her husband hanging out around Melina.

"John, John!"

John turned around as Trish ran up to him, grabbing his arm to catch her breath and steady herself."

"Trish?" Cena questioned.

Trish waved him off then smiled. "I was calling your name all the way from your locker room when you left," she told him. "Are you deaf or something?"

"Oh, no, just…a little lost in thought is all," John assured her.

Trish nodded, but wasn't so easily convinced. "Uh-huh, well, I actually wanted your advice on something."

John raised his eyebrows. "Oh, yeah? On what?"

"Retirement."

John looked at Trish as if she were joking for a few seconds, but when Trish didn't back down, John's smile faded. "You're serious?" Trish nodded and John shook his head then looked around quickly while grabbing her arm and practically dragging her to his car. "You do realize now that Steph's in charge of Raw?" he asked while letting her go.

Trish shot him an annoyed look. "Of course I know, she's my best friend," Trish shot back. "And she's always been in charge."

"Of _both_ shows," John filled in. "Now that she's back on TV, she's dedicated towards Raw while her parents handle Smackdown. Everything that is Raw related falls on Shane and Stephanie."

"So?"

"So…if you were to retire, one of the WWE's most talented, not to mention hot, divas, then Raw will lose talent. Raw losing talent equals Stephanie losing talent equals monstrous bitch being unleashed."

"Ok, what horror did you watch last night?" Trish giggled. Then she paused and looked up at John, worried. "You think she'd be that angry?" Trish asked.

John nodded. "Yeah."

Trish held up her hands and nodded. "Well, yes, I get it. It seems a little sudden but I'm only considering it."

John straightened himself out and looked at Trish with a serious face. "Do that Trish. I mean, I know you and Steph are close and all, but…once you retire, that's it. You'll be handing that pretty women's title on your shoulder back to the McMahon's."

Trish nodded and bit her lip, taking in everything that John was saying to her. Maybe it wasn't time that she retire just yet. She was at the height of her career. She was the women's champion and a fan favorite. The WWE needed her. "Thanks, John," Trish smiled at him.

John flashed her a smile. "Hey, not a problem. Just think about it, okay?"

Trish nodded. "I will."

John nodded and watched as Trish walked away towards her car. John smiled and shook his head as he opened the trunk to his car and threw his equipment in there. Just as he closed the trunk, he saw Stephanie and Paul walking out together towards their limo. John suddenly found himself frowning. The interaction between Paul and Melina was questionable, but John didn't dare confront Paul, the man who is married to his friend, about that relation until he had any evidence. He didn't believe that Paul would ever cheat on Stephanie. They'd been an item since before he came into the business but he'd be damned if he let anyone hurt Stephanie. Besides, it didn't make sense. Melina was with Nitro and Paul was married to Melina's boss. The two of them would have to have a death wish if they were having an affair. _If_ they were having an affair…

* * *

**Now, I'm curious, I mentioned in the previous chapter(s) that Stephanie will bring in new talent while Vince brings in a retired wrestler. So, I ask, who would _you_ like to see in this story?**


	6. Chapter 6

Stephanie leaned her head into her hand as she peered through her glasses at the women in the ring. She looked down at the clipboard in her lap and sighed, then turned her attention back to the action in the ring…_if_ you could call it action. The empty arena was filled with the women trying out for the WWE, grunting and crying out in pain, when they landed a move incorrectly. Stephanie herself couldn't wrestle well, she'd be the first one to admit it, but these women were downright pathetic. Not one female yet, out of the hundred that had been through Stephanie's tryouts, had proven themselves or impressed Stephanie. She shook her head and glanced at her watch as she heard Trish nearly screaming as yet another did a move erroneously. Stephanie watched as the diva stood up dusting herself off from a nasty fall and left the ring, wiping tears from her eyes. Stephanie rolled her eyes and crossed out another name. She watched as Trish grabbed another girl from outside the ring and showed them all the proper way to execute a snapmare. "Did I miss much?" she heard from behind her.

Stephanie turned around and smiled, hugging her friend. "Amy, thank god."

Amy giggled and set down her bag. "That bad, huh?" she asked while taking a seat next to Stephanie and watching Trish working with the hopefuls'.

Stephanie nodded. "I bet Trish that she would lose her cool with the divas before we finished."

"And?"

"Well, I must thank you."

Amy raised her eyebrow. "What for?"

"Because you're late Trish is already pissed," Stephanie smirked as Amy groaned. "So, thanks."

"Yeah, yeah," Amy grumbled.

"So, why were you late?" Stephanie asked, looking at Amy.

Amy suddenly smiled. "Traffic," she said a little too quickly.

Stephanie stopped herself from laughing. "Oh really?" Amy nodded and bit her lip to hide her smile. "And I'm assuming that the road you were on had a name? Say like…Adam?" Amy looked at Stephanie shocked then blushed several different shades. Stephanie laughed and went back to her list. "So things are good with you two then?"

"Yeah, things are great," Amy answered.

"That's good." Stephanie bit her lip and began twirling her pen in her hand, suddenly nervous. "Look," she began, not looking at Amy. "I need to tell you something before anyone else."

Amy frowned as she looked at Stephanie who was purposely avoiding looking at her. "Okay."

Stephanie sighed and turned to Amy, concern showing in her eyes. "Matt's back." Stephanie watched as Amy shifted in her seat but her face was expressionless. "I didn't know until last night and I wanted to tell you before you saw him wondering in the hall or something."

"I appreciate it Steph, really."

"Okay."

Amy stared straight ahead staring off into space when she suddenly asked, "Did your dad hire him back?"

Stephanie turned to her and shook her head. "No. Matt asked to come back."

"Oh."

"My dad wanted him on Smackdown but he insisted to come back to Raw," Stephanie told her.

Amy turned towards Stephanie. "I'm not ready to face him. Not yet."

Stephanie nodded. "I'll talk to him, okay?"

Amy offered a small smile. "Thanks."

"Amy!" Stephanie and Amy turned at Trish's voice as she left the ring and walked over to them. "I am done!"

Amy stood up and put up her hands. Stephanie wasn't sure if it was to protect herself or an attempt to calm Trish. "Okay, okay. I'll finish the tryouts."

Trish nodded and attempted to calm herself down as Amy entered the ring. Stephanie handed Trish some water, which Trish quickly took, watching Amy. As Trish drank the water, she noticed Stephanie had not taken her eyes off her. "What?" Trish asked self consciously.

"You owe me fifty bucks."

"What?"

Stephanie smiled. "You lost the bet."

Trish rolled her eyes and sat down next to her. "This is torture, Steph. What have Amy and I done to you that you have to put us through this?"

"Um, excuse me, but you two volunteered," Stephanie reminded her.

Trish shook her head in disgust. "I can't believe this is the talent your father wants," she said pointing at the women.

"I could," Stephanie scoffed.

Trish turned back to Stephanie. "Who do you think your father is going to bring back?"

Stephanie shrugged and crossed off another name. "Honestly, I have no idea. He hasn't even told my mother, and they share everything together."

Trish thought for a moment. "Hmmm…that's gonna bother me all night now."

"What is?"

Stephanie and Trish turned around to see Paul standing there, looking at both of them intently. "How long you been standing there?" Trish asked him.

Paul shrugged. "Not long."

He leaned down and kissed Stephanie. "How was lunch with the guys?" she asked.

"Good. So, are these the tryouts?" he asked.

"Yep," Trish answered.

"Found anyone yet?"

"Nope," Stephanie said throwing her clipboard down and taking off her glasses. "This is exhausting."

"Hey, Paul, do you know who your father-in-law is bringing back?" Trish asked.

Paul shook his head. "No…but me and the boys got a pool going."

"Really, for who?"

"Terry, Dwayne, Hot Rod, Irvine…"

Trish held up a hand. "Wait. Irvine? As in, Jericho?"

Paul nodded. "Yeah."

"I thought he was doing the rock star thing?" Stephanie asked.

Paul shrugged. "I wouldn't know."

"He is," Trish said. "The last time I spoke to him he said he wasn't thinking about coming back."

"Well, you know how convincing my father can be," Stephanie told them.

"True."

Stephanie glanced at her watch and stood up. "Alright, we should pack this up because the guys should be here any minute."

"Alright."

"Oh and Trish," Stephanie said. "Don't forget that money you owe me."

"You're not going to let that go, are you?"

Stephanie smiled. "Nope."

Trish rolled her eyes and grabbed her bag. "As if you don't have enough," she muttered.

She giggled as Paul wrapped his arms around her waist. "Cash or check only!" Stephanie called out as Trish walked away.

* * *

"Okay, so how about a tag match against DX tonight?" Shane asked as he, Randy and Adam walked into his office.

"Again?" Randy whined. "I don't know man. We've been doing that for weeks and every week we get our asses kicked."

"Dude, why can't we do something this week that can show the fans that were serious?" Adam asked.

"You guys are the tag team champions," Shane pointed out. "How much more serious can you get?"

"Serious like Rated RKO kicking DX's ass," Adam said. "I'm tired of Randy getting his ass kicked too."

"Yeah," Randy agreed. Shane smiled in amusement as Randy did a double take and turned around to Adam. "Hey!"

Adam laughed and patted Randy on the back. "You're right though, bro."

Shane nodded. "Alright, then for the main event tonight it will be you two and DX and will make it a no hold barred tornado tag match."

Randy and Adam smiled. "Now that's what we're talking about."

Both men turned around as J.R. walked in the office. "You wanted to see me, Shane?"

"Yeah," Shane motioned for him to come in as the other two left. Shane picked up the script from his desk and handed it to J.R. "Here's the script for tonight."

"Alright."

"The main event will be DX versus Rated RKO in a tornado no holds barred match."

J.R. frowned. "Uh, did you run that by Stephanie?"

Shane shook his head. "I'm the GM too."

"I know that, but Stephanie made the main event for Cena and Umaga," J.R. told him. "Their rivalry is starting to heat up."

"Yeah, I don't care, I want my event as the main event, got it?"

J.R. nodded. "Sure thing boss."

Shane nodded and watched as J.R. left the room. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. Shane had no idea that Stephanie had already booked a main event for tonight. First thing first, he needed to find her before someone else did or he was going to hear it from his little sister.


	7. Chapter 7

Stephanie sat in her office working through the tryout papers of the next newest diva. She was watching the TV from the tapes earlier and matching the names with their numbers. Stephanie went through the list quickly, crossing out names: _Can't wrestle, no charisma, not in shape, looks like an ape, no charisma, too young, can't wrestle, needs an attitude adjustment, too emotional, can't act, no charisma, too old, looks like a man, can't wrestle, too cocky, not in shape, can't wrestle…_ Stephanie took off her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose, leaning back and closing her eyes, when she heard a knock on her door. "What?" she called out.

The door creaked open and Stephanie opened her eyes to see Trish frowning. "Is that any way to greet your best friend?"

Stephanie motioned for Trish to come in and she obeyed, closing the door behind her. She took a few steps in and stared at the pile of papers on her friend's desk. "Steph, what in the world is all that?"

"The profiles of about half a million women wanted to tryout for the diva position," Stephanie answered.

Trish snorted and grabbed the top half of the pile. "You're kidding."

"Since when do I joke about work?"

Trish nodded. "True, but Stephanie… I just thought that you had a dozen of girls to deal with. Not half the world," she said throwing the stack back on the desk.

"I know," Stephanie sighed. "I'm starting to regret opening my mouth about the diva thing."

"Yeah, but Steph, you were right," Trish said sitting down. "We need more active women. I'm so sick of fighting Amy and Mickie every damn week."

Stephanie raised an eyebrow and leaned forward. "Uh, Trish, what's wrong with you?"

"What?" Trish asked, confused.

"You're acting like a complete bitch right now."

"Nothing…"

"Patricia…"

Trish threw up her hands. "Okay, fine!" Stephanie smiled and leaned back in her chair as Trish glared at her. "You know I don't like that name," she muttered, folding her arms across her chest.

"Well?"

Trish sighed and looked down, avoiding Stephanie's gaze. "It's…Ron and I had a fight."

Stephanie stuided Trish closely then nodded slowly. "It happens," Stephanie shrugged. "I don't mean to be insensitive or anything, but what's the big deal?"

"I just don't think that he likes me wrestling anymore," Trish answered. "I mean, there's always the possbility that I could get hurt…"

"Is that what this is about?" Stephanie asked, leaning forward again and placing her hands folded on her desk. "Trish, if you or Ron are worried about you getting injuried, we can take care of that, put you out of action for a little while and go about your storyline differently."

"I know you could, but I also know how stressful it'll be on you…"

"Don't worry about me, Trish," Stephanie cut her off. "If you're feeling run down and you need a break, tell me."

"No, no. I'm fine," Trish assured her. "He's just worried that's all. And he's making such a big deal about it."

Stephanie watched Trish as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Well," Stepahnie said carefully, "Men will be men."

Trish forced herself to laugh. "Yeah, that's so true. Look, I gotta go and…uh, warm up for my match," she said, standing up. "Um, see ya?"

Stephanie nodded but Trish had already left. Stephanie stood as well and walked down the hallway as Raw's music cued on, signaling the beginning of the show. Stephanie looked around and noticed that Trish has vansished. She sighed and placed her hands on her hips wondering why Trish had left so suddenly and was acting weird when one of the crew members walked up to her. "The show's starting in two minutes, Mrs. McMahon."

Stephanie nodded and muttered, "Thanks," then walked back down the hallway again as she heard someone calling out to her. Stephanie turned around, but didn't stop, as John ran up to her. "What's the rush, John?"

"Nothing," he said finally catching up to her. He then frowned and stepped in front of her, blocking her path.

Stephanie sighed and glared at John, "Must you always do that to me?"

"What's the matter?" John asked, concerned.

"With what?"

"You know, don't you?"

"Know what?" Stephanie asked, becoming irriated.

"That the main event was changed," John answered.

"What?" Stephanie growled.

John swallowed hard and took a step back. "Ok, you didn't know."

Stephanie turned around and began power walking down the corridor. "Who changed it?" she demanded.

John trailed behind her and shrugged, "I dunno. I just got the script and on it it said that I wasn't the main event."

Stephanie turned around and held out her hand. "Lemme see it."

"Steph, I don't think…"

"Let me see it," Stephanie demanded.

John reached behind him in his pocket and handed Stephanie the rolled up script. She took one look at it then muttered, "Shane."

* * *

Shane sat on the corner of his desk and laughed in the phone. "Yeah, yeah, that's so true," he was saying. Shane turned as his office door burst open and a pissed off Stephanie and John Cena walked in. "Uh, baby, can I call you back?"

Shane closed his phone and looked as Stephanie, raising his hands. "Okay, Steph, I know what you're going to say…"

"Do you?" she challenged.

"Look, I changed the main event for a reason," Shane began.

"It better be a damned good reason, Shane," Stephanie spat, throwing the script at him. "I am the head writer. _Me_, not you! There is a reason I make the matchs and feuds!"

"Hey, I'm the co-General Manager too!" Shane said, defensively.

"That may be, but you could've at least asked me about it!"

Shane shook his head. "Please, the feud between DX and Rated RKO is much better than Cena's and Eddie's!"

"Who came up with those feuds, Shane?" Stephanie demanded.

"Cena does not have to be in the main event every god damn time!" Shane yelled.

Cena stepped forward beside Stephanie, "Dawg, I'm standing right here."

"No one can miss you, Cena," Shane spat.

"Whoa, what the hell does that mean?"

"Guys," Stephanie whispered. Both men stopped and looked at her smiling face. "I think I have an idea."

"What?" both men asked together. They then turned and glared at each other.

Stephanie grabbed John's hand and practically dragged him out of the office. "Come on, John. Shane, you can have the main event," she said quickly as they walked out. After the door closed, Shane stared at it for a few moments, completely perplexed by Stephanie's sudden change in her mood.

"What was that all about?" John demanded as they walked back to her office.

"I've got a great idea," Stephanie said as her eyes sparkled.

John caught the look and shook his head. "Aw, hell no. I know that look, McMahon and whatever it is; I want no part in it."

Stephanie stopped and looked at John. "You saw how Shane and I got into it, right?"

"Saw?" John repeated. "I was standing _right_ there."

Stephanie nodded. "Well, the partners were right about one thing, the McMahon's haven't had that much on screen time."

John shrugged. "So…?"

"So, back when we had the Alliance, the ratings soared. All throughout Survivor Series each year we split the rosters into teams," Stephanie told him.

John frowned. "Not following you here, Steph."

"What if Shane and I led two separate teams each feuding with each other? It will blow the ratings right out of the water."

John rubbed his chin. "I dunno honestly. I mean, how're you gonna do that?"

Stephanie shrugged and continued walking again. "That's what I have to work out." John nodded when Stephanie turned back towards him. "Hey, John?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you noticed anything strange about Trish today?" Stephanie asked nervously.

John's thoughts immediately went back on the conversation that he and Trish had had on her retirement. But John only shook his head, "Nope. Why?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I'm not sure. I just have a feeling that something's 'off'."

"It's probably nothing," John said. "I've got to go, my match is up."

"Good luck."

John flashed her a smile. "The champ needs no luck."

Stephanie smiled and shook her head as she walked back into her office. She was greeted by a dozens of flowers sitting on her desk. Stephanie slowly walked in only to have massive and strong arms wrap around her waist. She didn't need to guess to know who it was. "You did all this?" she asked smiling.

"Yeah," Paul answered. "Mike and I have the main event tonight so we have ninety glorious minutes together…_alone_," he whispered in her ear.

Stephanie's smile grew wider. "I like that," she giggled and kicked the door closed, giving them privacy.


	8. Chapter 8

Paul sat on the bed, ignoring the television, and focused solely on the bathroom door. He rubbed his hands together nervously and exhaled not taking his eyes off the door. He waited patiently for another few minutes until finally he heard the toilet flush and the water run. He finally let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding as he watched Stephanie walk out of the bathroom slowly and laid down on the bed. Paul laid down on his side and stroked his wife's hair, realizing that she was pale and sweating. "Steph, are you okay?"

Stephanie mumbled something that Paul made out as a 'Yes,' from under the pillows. "You wanna explain to me why you been getting sick so much lately?" Paul demanded in a hush tone.

"It's just a stomach virus, Paul," Stephanie muttered. "It'll go away soon."

Paul stared at her for awhile then pulled his hand away, which Stephanie didn't seem to notice. "Maybe I should take you to the hospital?"

"No, I'm fine. I'll just sleep it off."

"Stephanie…"

"Paul, I'm fine," Stephanie insisted, lifting her head to look at him.

Paul bit his lip as he saw the look in her eyes. He had never seen anyone, especially Stephanie of all people, so unwell and weary. "Okay," Paul finally gave in. "I'll be here if you need me."

Satisfied, Stephanie laid back down and within minutes, fell into a deep sleep. Paul watched her throughout the night as she was sleeping; watching at how her chest raised and fell. He glanced at the clock on the night table and sighed. With one more look at Stephanie, Paul grabbed his keys and left the hotel.

* * *

John kept his eyes on the females and trainers in the ring not believing what he was seeing. He looked down at Stephanie's clipboard and flipped through all the papers, dumbfounded at how many names were listed. He sighed, rolling his eyes, and leaned back further in the uncomfortable arena seat, clasping his hands behind his head, as he continued to watch the girls attempt to wrestle.

"Hiya stranger," came a female voice.

John looked up to see Trish and Amy standing over him. "Hello there you sexy ladies," John purred.

Trish smacked his arm playfully and John laughed as they took a seat beside him. "So, what evilness did you do to Stephanie that caused you to be here and watch the talent-less Barbie's?"

John raised his eyebrows. "Wake up on the wrong side of the world today, Trish?"

"Have you seen them?" Amy demanded.

"Yes I have, but calling them 'Barbie's' is a little extreme," John said.

Trish shrugged. "I don't think so. That's how they act; I'm just labeling them that way."

"So what did you do to Stephanie?" Amy asked.

"Nothing," John answered. "She's running late and asked me to stay here and overlook the tryouts."

"Did you talk to her at all?"

"Not really. Why?"

"She left last night pretty quickly," Trish acknowledged. "She didn't look too well."

John shrugged. "It's probably just that new storyline that's been keeping her up late."

Trish shook her head. "No, I know Stephanie and I know that it's something more than that."

"Whatever," John said, leaning forward. "You're just over thinking it too much."

"Jeez, you are such a man," Amy scoffed.

John smirked at her. "And damn proud."

"Hey, did you hear Lisa's coming back?" Trish asked Amy.

"No, I didn't. When did this happen?"

"This morning."

Amy nodded. "Good, we're getting some talent back."

"Hey, what's going on over there?" John questioned.

Amy and Trish turned to look at what John was staring at only to see Vince McMahon and a whole squad of security. Vince was pointing to all the entrances and exits and when he saw John and the others looking at him, he began to walk over to them.

"What are you three doing here?" Vince asked.

"Watching the tryouts," John answered.

"I thought Stephanie was doing that?"

"She is," Amy said. "But she's running late."

"Uh-huh."

"What's with all the robo-cops, Vince?" John asked.

"Oh, they're my extra security, or my early retirement," he answered.

"Huh?"

Vince stared at John. "Don't you know where we are?" he demanded.

John shrugged. "In an arena?"

Both Amy and Trish snickered, but Vince ignored them. "We're in Texas! And who lives in Texas?"

John shook his head, completely obscure, much to the enjoyment of Trish and Amy. "Snakes?"

"One of them," Vince snarled. "Steve Williams lives here! And if I know Steve, which I do, I know he'll try something tonight."

"Why would Steve do anything?" John asked, still confused.

"He's rumored to make an appearance," Trish told John.

"So what? It's just a rumor," John said, shrugging. "You're telling me if we go to Florida that Terry or Dwayne will step into the ring? Please," John waved off.

"I'm not taking any chances," Vince said. "And I'll tell you something, Cena. If Steve does somehow make it in that ring tonight, you better be the one to throw him out!"

"Wait, why me?"

"Because, you're the Champ," Vince answered simply.

John shook his head and pulled his hat down further. "I always knew that was going to bite me in the ass one day," he muttered.

Trish smiled and patted John on his arm, "Don't worry, if Steve does show up, once he sees you he'll regret it."

"Damn straight," John agreed arrogantly. "Now if you'll excuse me, the Champ has got some work to do," he said before getting up and walked into the back.

* * *

Stephanie rolled her suitcase behind her as she entered the arena. She hated Texas. It was too hot, too big, too busy, and her greatest rival, Steve Williams, resided in the state. Every time she was here so always worried if Steve would show up unexpectedly and ruin her life…again. The way she was feeling right now, she couldn't take it. She assumed that she just had a bad stomach virus, but it was lasting for weeks now. The best, and only, sound decision that she could make now, was to make a doctor's appointment and put her mind at ease.

"You're late," a voice barked.

Stephanie stopped and sighed, closing her eyes, as she turned around to see her father walking up to her. "Hi to you too, Dad."

Vince wrapped his arms around Stephanie then took a step back and looked at her closely. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah," she answered, shaking her father off her as she continued towards her office.

Vince shrugged it off and proceeded to follow her. "I have extra security tonight for the show."

Even though Stephanie already knew the answer, she asked anyways, "Why?"

Vince frowned. "You know why, Stephanie." She briefly turned around and smirked at her father to which he sighed and shook his head. "Why do you always choose to annoy me?" Vince muttered.

"Because it's fun, Daddy," Stephanie answered while opening her office. Her father followed her in and closed the door behind him.

"So what's this new storyline that you're developing with Shane?"

"Who's the superstar you're bringing back?" Stephanie retorted while she set her suitcase to the side behind her writing table and put the laptop case on the desk.

Vince smiled at his daughter. "Nice try."

Stephanie smiled back at him. "Well, a girl's got to try."

"And I admire that in you, Stephanie," Vince nodded. "You're truly a McMahon."

Stephanie took out her laptop and threw the case on the couch in the room and sat down. "Dad, what makes you think Williams will even make an appearance?"

"Must you ask?"

"Yeah. It's been years since he's left and we've been in Texas before," Stephanie stated while opening her computer.

"I'm not taking any chances," he said sternly.

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Okay, whatever."

"Besides," he added, "if Steve somehow makes it through my security detail, Cena will take care of him."

Stephanie looked up at her father. "You're sending John after him?" Vince nodded and shoved his hands in his pockets. "And he had nothing to say about that?"

"I'm Vincent Kennedy McMahon," Vince stated self-righteously. "Exactly what could a kid like Cena say to me when I tell him what he's going to do?"

Stephanie raised her hands up. "Okay, fine. Sorry I asked."

Vince's face softened. "Look…"

"Don't worry about it, Dad," Stephanie waved off.

Her father nodded. "Okay. I'm going to go and check on the security. The show starts in a half hour."

"Alright."

Stephanie watched as her father left her office and she leaned back and sighed. The only thoughts that ran through Stephanie's head is what could go terribly wrong if Steve did make an appearance. Moments later, the office door opened and Shane stepped in. "Hey, sis?"

Stephanie looked up. "What is it, Shane?"

Shane frowned at Stephanie's tone. "You okay?"

"I really wish people would stop asking me that," she muttered angrily.

"Sorry, jeez…"

"You came here for a reason?" she asked impatiently.

"Yeah, I was wondering what the storyline is that you were preparing."

Stephanie sighed. "I haven't finished it yet."

"Oh, listen, I gave Cena and Eddie the main event tonight," Shane told her.

"Well, if Steve really is here, it won't matter," she said.

"Why not?"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "You know Steve."

Shane nodded. "True…"

Stephanie stood up. "Look, I don't mean to cut this short…too much…but I have to go find Trish."

"Okay." As Stephanie made her way around her brother, he grabbed her arm and looked at her desolately. "You sure you're okay?"

Stephanie bit her lip, and then nodded. "Yeah, I just need to speak with Trish."

Shane nodded and released her arm and she left the room. Shane thought about her behavior for a moment then went to leave as well when he bumped into John at the doorway. "Oh, sorry John."

"No prob. Is Steph here?" he asked looking over Shane's shoulder.

Shane shook his head. "You just missed her."

"That's cool actually; I wanted to speak to you."

"Me? Why?"

John sighed. "Look, I don't wanna say anything without proof, but I wanted to give you a heads up."

"On what?"

"On Paul," John responded. "I think he's got something going on with Melina."

Shane raised his eyebrows. "Melina? Are you kidding me?"

"No."

"John, not only are you in the process of sneaking around your friend and _my_ sister, but you're accusing Paul of cheating?" Shane demanded.

John shook his head. "No, I don't _know_ if he's cheating. I just know he's doing something behind Steph's back. I ain't the kinda man or friend that let's anyone do that to the people I care about."

"I don't know, John," Shane said while running his hand through his hair. "Melina is dating John Hennigan and Paul's married."

"Look man, just help me get to the bottom of it," John offered.

Shane thought about it for a moment. Shane didn't notice anything different with Paul but he had with Stephanie. She seemed more moody and distant so maybe she had a suspicion? And if she did, then it was Shane's job as a brother to help her by finding out what Paul was up to, if anything.

Shane nodded and extended his hand. "Okay, I'll help."

John nodded and shook his hand, beginning a partnership. They just had no idea what they were getting into.


	9. Chapter 9

Stephanie sat at her desk and stared at her laptop. She had no idea what to write; her mind was completely blank. Not one idea came to her mind. She had been so preoccupied with the new diva search and with Raw that she had forgotten about her new storyline. Steve Williams had yet to make an appearance and Stephanie for one didn't think he would. Vince had assured though that if Williams did happen to show up, that the WWE Champion and DX would take care of him. She wasn't too thrilled with the idea of having her husband stand toe to toe with the Rattle Snake, but Stephanie had little to say and do in a matter such as this. She just hoped that Steve didn't show up for the sake of her sanity.

"I found her! I found her!" Stephanie heard someone shouting. Seconds later her office door flew open and Trish ran in, her blonde hair flying behind her, slightly out of breath.

"Doesn't anyone knock?" Stephanie snapped.

But Trish ignored her. "I found the new diva, Steph!" Trish said with delight.

"Yeah, I got that," Stephanie drawled.

"Come on," Trish said, grabbing Stephanie's hand and pulling her away from her desk in a hurry. Stephanie rolled her eyes and followed the blonde down the hallway.

"Trish, where are we going?"

"You've got to meet her," was all Trish said.

_I don't have time for this_, Stephanie thought angrily. But no quicker than she had thought, Trish stopped and Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "Why are we in front of the gym?"

Trish pointed to the door. "Go on, she's in there."

Stephanie glared at Trish and walked into the gym to see Amy standing near the door watching the diva. Stephanie crossed her arms and watched her as well. She wasn't 'all that', as far as Stephanie was concerned, but she did seem to be focused on her workout which impressed her. The diva was good looking too, well built, and had light brown hair that went just past her shoulders and she was about Stephanie's height. When the diva realized she had an audience, she blushed slightly and walked over to them, smiling.

"What's your name?" Stephanie asked.

"Mindy Rubinstein," she answered, extending her hand which Stephanie shook.

"I'm just going to stick with Mindy."

Mindy smiled. "That's cool."

"So, you tried out for the diva search then?" Stephanie asked. She glanced at Amy who was behind Mindy, smiling and pointing at her, giving her thumbs up.

"Yes, I did."

"Well, we're staying here one more night after the show tonight. I'd like for you to come in tomorrow and perform in the ring for me."

Mindy nodded in contentment. "Thank you."

Stephanie nodded and once more they shook hands. "Alright, for now make yourself at home."

"Thank you Mrs. McMahon."

Stephanie smiled and made her way out of the gym with Amy following and Trish waiting outside. "Well?" Trish asked.

Stephanie shrugged. "Well, she knows who I am, that's a plus. But I have to see her in the ring tomorrow."

Amy smiled. "Trust me, Steph, you're gonna love her. She kicked Trish's ass."

"Did not!" Trish exclaimed, frowning.

Stephanie laughed at the two and turned back in the direction of her office. "Alright, I have to go back to work. I'll see you two later."

"See ya," Trish called out to her, turning back to Amy. "She didn't kick my ass."

"Whatever," Amy said rolling her eyes.

"She merely surprised me," Trish added.

"Sure, you keep believing that."

As Stephanie made her way back to the office, she heard a roar of cheers and several people shouting. Stephanie slowed her walk as she saw many crew members and referees running out to the ring. Curiosity got the best of Stephanie as she stepped over by the gorilla and looked up at the monitor. Stephanie's eyes widened and she wished she hadn't looked up as she saw Steve beating up on Carlito and Chris Masters. "Oh no," Stephanie muttered as she began to find herself gasping for a breath. She heard more shouting and turned to see her husband, Michael and John running up to the curtain. Stephanie didn't register anything as Paul grabbed her arms and looked up at her. "Steph? Don't worry okay? We'll take care of Steve." Stephanie nodded feeling her throat tightening_. What's wrong with me? _

John followed DX and glanced at Stephanie as his music hit. "Don't worry about anything, Steph," he said, winking at her, and running out to the ring.

Stephanie looked back up at the monitor and watched as Cena and DX ran into the ring and began attacking Austin, with Austin fighting back. It got so violent that Carlito and Masters attempted to break it off. Paul hit Steve hard then Michael delivered his finished, knocking Steve into John, who then executed his FU. All five men stood in the ring looking at Austin laying on the mat as Shane's music hit. Stephanie looked around in confusion. _Where had Shane come from that I couldn't see him?_ Stephanie frowned as watched as Shane slid into the ring and bent down next to Austin, supposedly checking on him_. What is he doing?_ As Stephanie watched closely, she saw movement in the crowd that the camera didn't catch right away. In the same instance, all of the men jumped the barrier and ran into the ring, beating up on DX and the others. Stephanie watched the monitor in confusion as she recognized that those were Smackdown stars and they were ignoring Shane and apparently helping Austin. Stephanie growled and turned around, snatching a microphone from on the crew members and pointing at another.

"You!" she ordered. "Cue up my music."

"Now?"

Stephanie stopped and glared at him which caused the man to gulp. "Yes, now!"

He nodded and quickly signaled to another crew member. As Stephanie made her way past the gorilla, her music hit, which caused confusion for the Smackdown stars, Shane and Austin, who was being helped to his feet, as the Raw superstars slid out of the ring and made their way down the ramp. Stephanie stepped out at the top of the ramp, accompanied with several security members, and glared at all the men in the ring as Paul looked at his wife confused, but tried not to show it because of the crowd.

Stephanie brought the microphone to her lips as her music faded out. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!?"

Shane shrugged as Steve glared at her. In the ring with them were Booker T, Kennedy, Undertaker and Kane, and the World Heavyweight Champion, Batista. Shane grabbed a microphone from one of the crew members at ringside and turned back to his sister. "Stephanie, what are you doing out here?"

"You shouldn't be concerned with what I'm doing, Shane. You better explain to me, and to Dad, on why you're attack _my_ Raw superstars and protecting Austin!"

Shane smirked at her younger sister. "See Stephanie? That's it right there. _Your_ superstars? I'm sick of it Stephanie!"

Stephanie relaxed slightly realizing that Shane must be going ahead with the storyline, but she was still confused with Steve's involvement in it. She returned Shane's smirk with one of her own as Cena and the others surrounded her, each in a defensive position. "So what you're telling me Shane is that you're unhappy with the job that Dad gave you?"

Shane's face fell as he suddenly shouted something at her that she couldn't make out as she heard the crowd grow louder. Austin grabbed the microphone from Shane and pointed at Stephanie. "If you and your bitches want a war with 3:16, you got one!"

Stephanie smiled as her husband and friends began to get cocky as the crowd shouted its approval. "I think you forgot one little detail, Steve," Stephanie announced, which quieted the crowd. She grinned and paused for that dramatic effect as John and Paul watched her closely. "You don't work for the WWE anymore, Steve, which means you can't wrestle in that ring," Stephanie finished as the crowed booed loudly. She smiled as she saw Austin having a fit in the ring with Shane as the Smackdown wrestlers stood back and watched them all. "You don't even have a contract to be in that ring right now," Stephanie added. "Therefore, you're breaking the law." Stephanie turned slightly to one of the guards and said, in her most charming voice, "Security."

Nodding immediately, they rushed into the ring after Austin, who easily knocked them down. Stephanie watched the whole scene play out then signaled once more as the Raw locker room came out to the ramp and all ran into the ring beating Steve down then dragging him to the back. As Stephanie followed them, she grabbed a camera man and ordered them to follow them, and then to air it after the commercial break. As Stephanie watched them all hurry away, she saw her father approach her as Paul, Michael and John joined Stephanie.

"Princess, I know what you're going to say…" Vince immediately said, holding his hands up.

Stephanie put her hands on her hip and glared at her father. "Good, then I can save my breath and go straight to the slap."

Vince backed up slightly and Paul smiled while John stifled a laugh. "Look, Shane came to me with the angle and I thought it was great."

"We didn't have a script," Stephanie pointed out. "I don't like being unprepared."

"I know," Vince said. "But we really had no choice. I knew you were working on a storyline and you and Steve don't get along…it was perfect."

Stephanie bit her lip and nodded. "Yeah, but next time, let me know."

Vince nodded and hugged his daughter. "I will." As he pulled back, he shook hands with Paul and John. "Good job you two."

"Thanks," they both said.

"You okay?" Paul asked, looking at his wife.

Stephanie nodded and was about to answer as her cell phone rang. She looked at the number and looked up at Paul. "I have to take this."

Paul smiled at her. "Not a problem. I'm sure Cena and I can find something to do," he said, looking at John.

"Yeah, we're straight," John assured her. "We'll meet up with you later, Steph."

Stephanie smiled at them as they walked away. Stephanie sighed and opened her phone. "Stephanie McMahon."

"Mrs. Levesque," a man's voice asked.

"Yes?"

"This is Doctor Gessat. I'm calling back in regards to your test results that you came in a few days ago for."

Stephanie slapped her forehead, completely forgetting that she had gone to the doctors. "Uh, yeah…"

"Well, I called to tell you that you're not sick."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows and looked around. "Well, then what?"

"Well, Mrs. Levesque….you're pregnant."


	10. Chapter 10

**Happy Holidays :)**

* * *

This was a real problem; one which could not simply be solved, even for Stephanie McMahon herself. _She_ was pregnant. Five weeks pregnant and she had no idea. The only thing that was going through Stephanie's mind was how her family and Paul would react. Money wasn't an issue, acceptance wasn't an issue, but her work however was. She didn't take vacations, she traveled all over the world and stayed in fancy hotels and practically lived in her office. A child wasn't the logically thing right now and it sure hadn't been planned. _I thought we were being safe_, Stephanie thought bleakly.

"Hello?" she heard as a hand waved in front of her face. "Earth to Steph?"

Stephanie turned to see Trish looking at her deeply concerned. "What?" Stephanie said as she came out of her daze.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah, why?"

Trish pointed to the ring at Mindy and Amy. "Because you haven't been paying attention."

Stephanie shrugged and stood up. "I'll hire her."

Trish watched, unmistakably astounded, as Stephanie began walking down the aisles and over the barrier, heading to the back. Trish then went to follow her when Amy leapt out of the ring. "Where's she going?"

Trish shook her head and watched as Stephanie disappeared. "I don't know."

"What about Mindy?"

Trish flashed a quick smile. "Tell her welcome to Raw."

Amy smiled. "Right on!" and then turned around and gave a thumbs up to Mindy while Trish turned and jogged up the ramp towards the back. When Trish reached the back, she saw Stephanie walked around the corner, and ran up to her. "Hey!" Stephanie turned around as Trish ran up to her. "Where you going?"

"To my office," Stephanie answered matter-of-factly. "Where I _work_."

Trish raised an eyebrow at Stephanie and grabbed her hands. "Steph, honey, what's wrong?"

Stephanie sighed and brushed her blonde bangs out of her hair. "What makes you think that anything is wrong?"

"Steph, I know you better than you think and ever since the closing of Raw last night you've been distance and kinda bitchy," Trish told her while Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Stephanie…seriously."

Stephanie sighed and looked down, then around to see if anyone was listening, although she knew that was unlikely, you never know. "Follow me."

Trish watched her suspiciously but did as she was told and followed Stephanie down the hall and into one of the locker rooms. As Trish walked in, Stephanie shut the door and looked nervously at her best friend. "Well?" Trish said. Stephanie bit her lip and pointed to the bench. Trish continued to eye Stephanie but she sat down as Stephanie began to pace. "Stephanie, what the hell is the matter?"

"I'm pregnant," Stephanie blurted out.

For a moment, Trish said nothing, just stood there shell shocked with her mouth open as if she would say something. Stephanie watched as Trish suddenly broke out in a smile. "Stephanie…that's wonderful news!"

Stephanie shook her head slowly. "Not for me."

Trish suddenly frowned and her eyes clouded in perplexity. "What?"

"Trish, Paul and I work all the time! We have three houses, one of which is in a different country! I can't be a mother! I don't know how I can balance my marriage, my work and a child! I just can't!" Stephanie said in a panic.

Trish stood up and hugged Stephanie, who was on the verge of a complete meltdown, and rubbed her back laughing softly. "Stephanie, every woman is a first time mother; it's not something that you have naturally. You and Paul just have to figure it out."

Stephanie nodded and broke the hug, wiping her eyes. "Sorry," she garbled.

Trish laughed. "Please, I understand. It's the hormones."

Stephanie groaned. "You're not going to always through that in my face, are you?"

"For nine months," Trish smiled in enjoyment. "So, how long are you?"

"Five weeks."

"How'd you find out?"

"When I was sick, I went to see a doctor," Stephanie answered as she opened the door and the two women walked out. "God, how am I going to tell Paul?"

Trish shrugged. "That, I can't tell you. He's a ten time champion though, he'll handle it," she joked. Stephanie shot her a look and Trish laughed once more.

* * *

"Are you sure about this?" Paul asked Melina nervously as he looked around standing in front of an apartment building.

Melina sighed in annoyance and pulled her hair back, glaring at Paul. "Trust me, we're fine."

Paul shook his head. "I don't know…"

"Will you stop being such a baby?" Melina snapped. "You asked me to do this for you and I am, and now you're complaining. It's fucking annoying."

"Why are you snapping at me?" Paul demanded, raising his voice. "You think I want to be sneaking around like this?"

"You wanna back out?" Melina asked grinning slightly. "Go ahead. Let the press see you with me and publish the stories. Wait till your beloved wife gets a load of it…"

"Stop with the threats," Paul growled. "So help me, I'll kill you."

Melina rolled her eyes. "Sure. You're like one of those big bad scary grizzly bears. Mean and strong on the outside and all soft on the inside."

"You wanna test that?"

Melina shrugged. "Haven't we enough?"

This time, Paul rolled his eyes. "Let's just get this done with, okay?"

"You can't rush something like this," Melina stated.

"Whatever," Paul muttered as they entered the building.

A few yards away, in a black mustang, sat two men watching the two very closely. John Cena sat in the passenger seat with his arms folded across his chest, pouting, while Shane McMahon sat in the driver side, holding binoculars in his hands. Shane put the binoculars down and sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what to say." John said nothing and Shane turned to him and frowned. "John?"

Cena turned and glared at Shane. "You stole my binoculars from me and I have bad eyesight," he whined.

Shane rolled his eyes. "Jesus," he muttered, tossing the binoculars into John's lap, who gave out a yelp.

John gave Shane a look and held the binoculars up. "What do you think of this?"

Shane shrugged and stared out the windshield. "I don't know. I wish I did…but I don't."

John lowered the binoculars and looked at Shane. "Hey man, I'm sorry," he said sympathetically. "I didn't want to be right."

Shane nodded slowly. "Yeah I know." Both men sat in the car silent for several minutes, both in deep thought, and neither doing so much as breathing. "I just can't believe it," Shane finally said, breaking the silence. "They've just gotten married and he's already cheating?"

John shrugged. "Well, for what it's worth, we don't know if he's actually 'cheating'," he said, raising his hands and quoting the last word.

"Maybe," Shane replied. "I can't imagine how Steph will react to this."

"Well, at least she's not the one sitting in this car," John pointed out.

Shane nodded. "True… but if I was her and I found out the Marissa had been cheating, I'd be heartbroken."

Cena nodded and watched the entrance to the apartment building. "What're we gonna do?"

Shane sighed and started the car up. "I'm not sure, John." He shifted the car into drive and pulled out of the parking space. "For now though, this is between you and I."

* * *

Stephanie was growing nervous more and more often as the hours ticked by and Paul had still yet to show up. She didn't know if she was more nervous because he had still not called her to tell her he was running late and she still had yet to prepare a talk with him. Stephanie paced the floor and played with her fingers as she looked at the clock…again. _Where is he?_ She sat on the couch for a few seconds, and then stood up and paced again. Her heart skipped a beat as she heard a car engine and saw the headlights reflecting in the hotel room. She rushed to the door and opened it. Paul stood outside the door, looking surprised, as he held out his hand with the hotel card in it, not expecting Stephanie to be up and at the door. "Steph, what're you doing up?"

"Nice to see you too," she spat, folding her arms across her chest and giving him the 'McMahon glare'. Paul groaned and walked in the door as Stephanie's eyes followed him, closing the door with a quick push. She didn't know why her mood had changed so suddenly; from being nervous, to worried, to angry…but she couldn't change it now and if Paul didn't offer her a good excuse, there'd be hell to pay.

"Steph, my phone died and I lost track of time," he said, dropping his gym bag.

"There are such things as pay phones," Stephanie said sarcastically. "And you're wearing your watch

Paul nodded and fought back his temper as he watched Stephanie glaring at him. _If looks could kill…_ "Stephanie, I'm sorry okay? Forgive me?" he asked as he wrapped his broad arms over her.

Stephanie rolled her eyes and pushed him off her to which Paul looked at her, confused, and hurt. She sighed and grabbed his hand, leading him into the living room. "I have to talk to you."

Paul took a step back and wiggled out of Stephanie's firm grip. "Whoa," he said, raising his hands. "You're not divorcing me, are you?" he asked her, frightened.

Stephanie shot him a look. "Should I have a reason too?"

Paul quickly shook his head and relaxed his shoulders. "No, I love you baby."

Stephanie watched him closely, getting a bad vibe off of him, but she chose to ignore it and walked in the living room, with Paul trailing behind her. "Sit down," she instructed. Paul frowned at Stephanie's business like tone, but did as he was told, as Stephanie sat opposite of him on the coffee table. She flashed him a painful smile which gave away many of her emotions to him; uncertainty, concern, happiness, horror, and excitement. She grabbed his hands and wrapped them in her own. "You know how I've been getting really sick often?" she asked cautiously. Paul nodded and she bit her lip. "Well, there's a reason for that." Stephanie looked in Paul's eyes trying to get some kind of emotion out of him. "I went to the doctor last week…"

"Are you alright, Stephanie?" Paul asked his eyes filled with worry and fear.

Stephanie nodded. "Depends on how you look at it," she whispered.

"Okay…what is it?"

Stephanie sighed, feeling her eyes water, and looked down. "Well," she looked back up at her husband and offered a strain smile. "It turns out that I'm pregnant."

Paul stared at Stephanie in shock. "You're…?" He swallowed hard, unable to finish the sentence. _God_, he thought. _There's going to be a little Steph or Paul running around here._

"Paul?" Stephanie whispered. Paul turned to her and realized he hadn't said anything. "Do you want this?" she asked carefully.

"Steph, I love you," he said, kissing her. Stephanie fell into the kiss before she pulled away and looked at him, slightly confused.

"You mean... this is good?"

Paul smiled at her. "Of course. Stephanie, we're going to be parents!" he said excitedly. Stephanie laughed whole heartily as Paul quickly stood up and grabbed her in his arms swinging her around and kissing her. "Stephanie, we're parents," he whispered in her ear.

"I know," she said, breaking into a smile. She placed her hands on his cheeks and he gazed at her. "I love you," she said softly.

Paul kissed her. "I love you too, McMahon and I always will, remember that."


	11. Chapter 11

Stephanie sat at her desk, twirling her pen in her hands, looking through her glasses at the papers scattered in front of her. Sitting across from her was Mindy, who was glancing around the office at the various documents, awards, wrestling posters and pictures around the room, while her boss was reading. "Well," Stephanie said, reading the last line, "I don't think that there won't be any problem fitting you in the storyline," she said as Mindy looked up. "All we have to do is go over some minor details, send the contract to the home office and have you sign it in the attendance of the board and my family and you'll be ready."

Mindy smiled. "That'll be great."

"Now, first order of business…ring name," she said, leaning forward while Mindy frowned.

"I dunno," she shrugged.

"Have you pictured yourself going out there with your maiden name?"

Mindy shook her head. "Yeah right," she scoffed.

Stephanie grinned. "Okay…well we want something that matters, right?" Mindy nodded. "We want a name that means something…that's easy to chant, or even boo…"

"How about something like Faith?" Mindy asked. "Or Destiny?"

Stephanie nodded and weighed the names in her mind. Immediately she saw dollar signs. "I like the latter," she commented.

Mindy nodded as well and dragged the name out. "Now, _that_ name I can see walking out to."

Stephanie nodded as well and wrote the name down. "That's really good, we can use that." She flipped a piece of paper then set it back down. "Now, I think we should start you off as a heel, and then depending on the crowd's reaction, we'll determine if you go to face after that." Mindy nodded following along and absorbing the information. "We'll have you go out, to make your debut, after Mickie and Trish fight. That match will end with Trish retaining her title and her celebrating with the fans. Because you're a heel, you will then interrupt and challenge her for the title then deliver a cheap shot."

"Got it."

"Now, business number two," Stephanie said, pushing up her glasses. "What kind of entrance music do you want?"

"Well, what are my limits?"

"Nothing really," Stephanie answered. "Depending on the band, we can get easy access to use them."

Mindy nodded, considering her options. "Well, I want something that makes an impact…something different."

"Well, consider your favorite bands and music."

"How about we use on of P.O.D's songs?" Mindy asked. "I know you guys used one of their songs of a pay-per-view."

Stephanie nodded. "What's the name?"

Mindy thought for a moment. "I'll to sleep on it."

Stephanie nodded and said "Well, no matter what song, we should have no problem with that. Those guys are great." Mindy nodded once more and sat back in the chair. "We figured we'd give you a regular entrance…unless you have something else in mind?" she asked, looking up.

"Well, how about a pyro explosion at the ramp when the song begins?" Stephanie wrote that down. "And…I had another idea." Stephanie looked up again. "I have this obsession with Mustangs…I figured that I could somehow use that with my character."

Stephanie nodded, but more slowly, as her thoughts drifted to the late Eddie Guerrero and his entrance. How she, and her family, reacting when he wanted to use low riders in his entrance. It dawned on her suddenly how quickly life could change and how suddenly you could suddenly leave your family and everything behind.

"Mrs. McMahon?" she heard. Stephanie crashed back down to reality as Mindy looked at her apprehensive, and now leaning forward, watching her closely. "Are you okay?"

Stephanie nodded quickly and fought back the tears that came to her eyes. "Yeah," she whispered.

"Look, if it's a problem or something, then don't worry…" Mindy insisted.

Stephanie waved her hands and wrote more notes down again. "No, no….it's great." Mindy relaxed again, but still remained skeptical. "How about costumes?" Stephanie asked.

Mindy shrugged. "Something simple and comfortable."

Stephanie wrote that down as well and took a look at her watch. "Shit," she muttered as she gathered her things together. "Alright, I'm going to send these down to headquarters and tomorrow we'll sign the papers and then Monday you'll be making debut."

Mindy smiled and shook Stephanie's hand. "Thank you…for everything."

Stephanie flashed her a smile. "You're welcome. Just put out one hell of a show and you'll find a home here in no time."

"Count on it," Mindy said before she left. Stephanie packed up her things and walked out of the office as well moments after Mindy.

* * *

"Whoa, she's pregnant man?" Michael asked Paul as he was wiped his face with his towel.

Paul set down his free weights and sighed. "Yeah."

Mike frowned as he watched Paul's face in the mirror that reflected back to him in the gym. "Well, you don't seem too thrilled," he commented.

"It's not that," Paul said, turning around to face his best friend. "I was so happy when Steph told me. Then this morning when I woke up and drove down here…I just…" he sighed again and sat down, his shoulders sagging.

"You got scared man," Mike said as he sat across from him too. The gym was for them exclusively, so they didn't have to worry about anyone, except any wrestlers who came strolling in. "It happens."

"I know," Paul said quietly. "But I have to be strong."

"Who says?" Michael challenged.

"Have you met my wife?" Paul scoffed. Michael shrugged his shoulder and nodded. "This isn't something that we planned and we're at the top of our careers." Paul suddenly looked up and leaned forward. "How'd you do it, Mike?"

Michael shrugged. "I dunno honestly. I've had a lot of ups and downs with the business and my family, man. I don't think I should be giving you advice."

"Come on," Paul pressed.

"Paul, I don't know," Mike said. "It's just something that you grow in to. Something that matures you and turns you into a dad. You just have to roll with it." Paul nodded, taking in the guidance, as Michael spoke again. "How does Stephanie feel?"

Paul shrugged. "Like me. She's confused, in high spirits, anxious, terrified…"

"She'll have to take time off you know."

Paul rolled his eyes and stood up, preparing to lift again. "Yeah right, tell _her_ that."

Mike stood up as well and swung the towel over his shoulder. "I'm serious. She'll have to leave the screen…is she prepared for that?"

Paul suddenly frowned. "I don't think she thought about that. Shit, Mike…she just came back on screen…"

His friend shrugged. "The WWE…even Stephanie herself…wrote the rules for women expecting. She can't be in the ring or within a hundred feet of one." Paul nodded and rubbed his hand on his forehead. "And if she does go on screen," Mike continued, "how will she explain her sudden birth? The story has you two divorced."

Paul shrugged. "She could write in a boyfriend or something…"

"Yeah right," Michael scoffed. "Like you'd let that happen."

Both men paused as the door to the gym clicked and then opened as Cena and Adam walked in. Seeing the looks on both men's faces, John stopped at the door. "Yo, what's wrong?"

Michael shrugged and walked away from Paul and over to the weights. "Nothing."

Adam tossed his bag in the corner as John turned his gaze to Paul. "Man, what's up?"

"Nothing," Paul waved off. When he noticed that John still hadn't moved he sighed. "Stephanie's pregnant."

John's first reaction was to pull out his phone and congratulate Stephanie; but the look on Paul's face and seeing Paul the other night with Melina only caused him to frown in deep concern and desolation. Paul noticed this and took a step towards him. John dropped his bag to the floor and attempted to recover. "Well, then why with the long face? You should happy and celebrating."

Paul nodded. "I know. It just wasn't planned," he said.

_I'll bet_, John thought irately. "Well, the good things usually aren't," he said instead as he took off his baseball cap and threw it to the side.

"If you ask me, you're being paranoid," Mike said at the end of the gym. "You guys just got married. It seems fitting to me."

Adam nodded as he adjusted the weights. "Being a father isn't something you plan," he said. "It happens when the time is right and dude, you're time is now."

Cena frowned and hit Adam in the arm as he walked past. "Yo, that's my line."

"Ow!" Adam cried, hitting him back. "You can warn me before you do that!"

"You guys really think I'm just overreacting?" Paul asked them.

"That's what I've been telling ya," Mike said.

John chose not to comment as he began his stretching so Adam did instead. "I think you're just over thinking the whole thing. Give it time, and you'll see that everything will be just fine."

* * *

Stephanie pulled her lavish BMW into the parking space and jumped out of the car as a valet walked past her. "Hey!" he called out. "You can't park here!"

Stephanie hit the button on her keys, turning on the alarm, and shot the man a defiant look. "Watch me." The man looked after her in shock as Stephanie continued to walk, making her way into the modest restaurant. As she came to the first table that was outside, she looked around until she spotted the person she was meeting, and walked over to him. Stephanie swatted her hair out of her face as the wind blew it and sighed, taking her seat across from the man. "You're late," he commented.

Stephanie shot him a look. "You're one to talk, Hardy."

Matt grinned at her and stood up to hug her. "How you been?"

Stephanie smiled kindly as he took his seat again. "I've been better," she replied. "Been worse."

Matt raised his eyebrows. "Oh yeah?"

Stephanie blushed and grinned. "I'm pregnant actually."

Several emotions reflected off Matt's face; jealously, anger, delight, melancholy. Stephanie chose not to take it personally as she was sure his thoughts went immediately to Amy. "Congrats," was all he said.

"Thank you," Stephanie said. She knew he meant it, and it was a sensitive subject for Matt to get into, so they both ended it. "So I was surprised to hear you wanted Raw over Smackdown."

Matt nodded. "Yeah well…it's my home." Stephanie nodded knowing that Matt was avoiding speaking Adam's or Amy's name. "Besides," he added flashing her a grin. "You're there."

Stephanie returned his smile. "Are you sure that's a good thing?"

"Definitely," Matt teased. "I always knew you had a thing for me…"

"Is that so?" Stephanie teased back.

The smile never left Matt's face, and Stephanie preferred it to stay that way. "Oh yeah. I know that baby is mine."

Stephanie gasped. "How'd you know?"

"Ah hah! You admit it?" Matt said, pointing a finger at her, while holding his smile.

"Yes I do, I could never lie to you," she said playfully, sounding like an actor from one of the soap opera's.

"Okay," Matt said, slightly timidly. "Too many people are staring now."

Stephanie giggled. "I like this."

"Like what?"

"You…like this," she said. "I miss you Matt. I miss my friend."

"Oh my, Stephanie…you have friends?" he joked. "When did this happen?"

Stephanie laughed and sat up straighter. "Okay, I'll admit it. I _do_ have friends."

Matt laughed and took a sip of his water. "Do you want anything?" he asked.

Stephanie shook her head. "No, I'm going to go back to the hotel soon…"

"How's that diva thing going?"

"Actually, it's over with," Stephanie told him.

"Uh-huh. So, who's the lucky girl?"

"Her name is Mindy and you know," she said coyly. "She's single."

Matt laughed. "When do I meet her?"

"Monday…when you return," she added hesitantly. Matt's smile faded and his eyes clouded suddenly. Stephanie, noticing the change, turned into boss mode. "Look, I don't want to stray onto topics that I know you're avoiding, but Matt…there's a good chance that you will run into Amy or Adam and you need to prepare yourself for that."

Matt nodded and whispered, "I know."

"You two have a past together, and god knows how long and complicated that is," Stephanie said rolling her eyes and getting a smile and chuckle out of Matt. "But…it's time to move on."

"It was public, Steph," Matt said sensitively. "How can I go back to that?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "But I know you'll figure it out."

"I want Adam," he said harshly.

Stephanie blinked. "What?"

"I want Adam," he said again looking at her.

Stephanie faltered. "Matt…"

"I want to hurt him, like he hurt me."

Stephanie shook her head. "You broke character last time, Matt. That's why Vince fired you. You've been given a second chance…"

"I won't make the same mistake."

Stephanie held Matt's stare for a few seconds before sighing and looking down at the table. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you."

Stephanie shook her head faintly and looked at him sternly. "Don't make me regret it, Matt, or I swear to god you'll be sorry."

"I won't," he promised her.

Stephanie nodded then stood up, glancing at her watch. "Alright, I'm gonna take off," she said hugging him again. "See you Monday."

Matt nodded. "See you Monday." He watched as Stephanie walked away then called out, "Hey, Steph?" She turned around and he flashed her a grin. "Thanks." She smiled back then turned and walked back to the parking lot.

As she quickly went back to where her car was parked, she noticed that it was being pulled onto a tow truck. She stopped in her tracks, keys and purse in hand, and sighed as she rolled her eyes. "Shit," she muttered. She glared at the tow truck driver, who froze as he got a good look at Stephanie, and then placed her hands on her hips as the valet guy walked past again. Both men stopped and looked at Stephanie, somewhat petrified, as she tapped her foot impatiently. "Alright," she said. "Who do I have to kill?"


	12. Chapter 12

Stephanie looked at the card again and smirked. _Tonight's going to be a good show_, she thought happily. As Stephanie sat it back down in the desk, she felt strong arms wrap around her waist as he kissed her neck. "Whatcha doing?"

"Work," Stephanie beamed.

"The show doesn't start for another half hour," Paul reminded her. "Can't you put that aside for now?"

She turned around towards him and kissed him lightly on the lips. "I can think of a few good reasons too," she said softly, grinning from ear to ear.

Paul giggled and kissed her tenderly slipping his hand under her shirt as they heard a knock on her office door and then someone grimacing. "Oh! Jeez," Cena said, shielding his eyes as Paul and Stephanie pulled apart reluctantly, both annoyed. "Haven't you two heard of locks?"

"What is it, John?" Stephanie asked irritated.

John flashed her a cocky grin. "Aw, did I interrupt?" Paul glared at Cena and folded his arms across his chest. John noticed his stance, but only returned the defiant stare towards him. If it weren't for Stephanie, John would've hit him right then and there, knocking his ass out. The temptation to ask Paul about his little 'meeting' with Melina was crawling to the surface. John shook off the urge and stepped to the side, throwing his thumb behind him. "The guys are having problems with the pyro and sound effects, Steph," John told her, ignoring Paul.

Paul never took his eyes off John as Stephanie groaned and straightened her shirt as she walked to the door. "Alright, I'll take care of it."

As Stephanie walked out, John and Paul continued their staring contest until Paul spoke up, approaching Cena. "What's your problem, man?"

John snorted. "What's _yours_?" he threw back. Giving him his signature FU brush off, John followed Stephanie out, leaving Paul to stand in the office, alone and in astonishment.

"Hey Steph," John called jogging up to her. "Can I ask you a favor?"

"What?"

"Can you give me a match with Paul?"

Stephanie stopped walking and turned to face John, his face set and hard, his expression hard to read. "You're serious?" Stephanie asked in bewilderment. John nodded and Stephanie sighed, shaking her head. "John, I can't. You guys have a tag match tonight." John nodded again, clearly pissed and upset, but not arguing. Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "John, why do you want a match with my husband?"

He froze, unsure if he should tell the truth or not. The more he saw Stephanie and Paul together, the more he wanted to because he knew that Paul was hurting her, but Stephanie seemed so happy. And with a baby on the way…John knew she wouldn't react very well to the news. Besides that, John and Shane had no solid proof. Telling Stephanie flat out that Paul was cheating wouldn't be the smartest plan. John did what was natural to him. He flashed her a smile to reassure her everything was fine, turning on his charm. "No reason," he shrugged off.

Stephanie however knew John was hiding something; and that something had to do with Paul. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at John. "I want the truth."

John didn't back down but rather changed the subject. "Hey, congrats on the baby," he said pointing to her flat stomach. "I can see a little Paul or Steph running around here and running the show," he joked.

Stephanie was unfazed but rather getting pissed very quickly. John sensed this and sighed in relief as Shane walked over to them. "Hey guys," he greeted.

Stephanie never tore her eyes off of John, which made him uncomfortable, but spoke to Shane. "You wanna tell me what's wrong with, Cena?" she asked him.

John frowned at Stephanie using his last name. _Damn, she knows I know something._ Shane shrugged at his little sister. "No."

Stephanie nodded slightly and brushed past Shane. "I'll see you boys later," she said with one last glance at John.

When she was out of earshot, John sighed in liberation and removed his baseball cap, running a hand through his hair, and replacing it. "What the hell was that about?" Shane demanded.

"Steph's expecting."

Shane's eyes widened. "What? She's pregnant?" John nodded. "And she didn't tell me first?"

John shot Shane a look. "Don't you see the problem?" he asked crossly. "Paul's cheating and she's expecting," John whispered.

"Shit," Shane muttered.

"And she knows that I know something," John added.

"Well, how the fuck does she know?"

"'Cause I asked for a match against Paul."

Shane shook his head. "Why the fuck would you do that?" he asked angrily.

"Because I wanna tear him apart!" John replied furiously. "He's so fucking smug and he's treating Stephanie like that."

Shane raised his eyebrows. "Do you have a crush on my sister?"

John shook his head and started to walk away. "Fuck this. I don't need this shit."

"Where are you going?"

"To tell her!"

Shane ran up to John and grabbed his arm, stopping him, which caused John to growl at him. "You can't do that. You'll only hurt her."

"_I'll_ hurt her?" he hissed.

Shane put up his hands. "Just…let it play out okay? We'll talk to Paul first."

John shook his head. "Nah, I'll kill him…"

"Okay, okay. I'll talk to him first, alright?" John nodded slowly. "For now, channel your anger at your opponents tonight."

* * *

Stephanie wanted to pull her hair out. _Fucking stupid ass morons…_ The show started ten minutes late because the WWE crew couldn't figure out how to plug two plugs together. Her night was not off to a good start. _I still have Mindy's and Matt's debut to look forward to,_ she thought, trying to calm herself. _And we still have the tag match as the main event._ Stephanie's breathing returned to normal just as she heard, "How come you didn't tell us?!?"

Stephanie froze right away and sighed, closing her eyes. The last thing she wanted to deal with was, bless their heart, her family. Stephanie prepared herself and turned around, to meet her mother's hurt eyes and her father's stern look. "Hey, Mom. Dad."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Linda asked again, almost on the verge of tears.

_She's so overdramatic_, Stephanie thought. "Tell you what?" she replied demurely.

"That you're pregnant!" Vince shouted.

Stephanie felt herself redden as several workers turned towards them. "Jeez, Dad…why don't you publish it?" she hissed.

"It already is!" he recoiled.

Stephanie blinked. "What?"

"That's how we found out," he said more serenely. "A fucking website posted it before your own parents knew."

Stephanie could feel her blood pressure rising as she brushed back her bangs. "I just found out," she said overwhelmed. "I was going to tell you guys the second I got a chance."

Both their faces softened as Linda hugged her. "Oh, Stephanie. You're going to have a little Stephy."

"Or Vince," her father said proudly. Both women turned and looked at him. Vince swallowed hard, realizing the way it sounded. "I meant, Paul," he quickly covered. Stephanie and Linda relaxed slightly as Vince added, "But you'll name him Vincent."

* * *

"Stephanie **is** **going** **to** **kill** **you**!" Amy shouted.

"Well stop **shouting** **it**!" Trish yelled back.

Adam giggled as he un-taped his hands. Amy shot him a glare as he stopped and cast his eyes downward. She turned back to Trish. "Do you realize how Stephanie will react to this?" Amy demanded. "Especially because she's pregnant."

"I know! Trish said quickly. "That's why I need your advice."

"Why do you want my advice?" Amy asked taken aback.

Trish shrugged. "I asked John…"

Adam held up his hand. "Wait, you asked Cena?" he asked astonished. "What am I? Chop liver?"

Trish rolled her eyes. "John is closer with Stephanie…"

"But I've known her longer," he protested.

"…And John can help me convince Stephanie to see that this is a good thing for me," she continued, ignoring Adam. He rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath.

Amy shook her head and rolled her eyes watching her childish boyfriend. "You know that no matter what, Stephanie won't see it that way. Not for a while."

"She let Kurt go to TNA," Trish pouted.

Amy rolled her eyes again at Trish. "She didn't _let_ him go to TNA. She wasn't even _here_."

"Yeah, I wouldn't mention him anyways," Adam added. Both women looked at him and he shrugged. "What?"

Trish scoffed as the locker room door opened. She gasped as she saw Matt Hardy walk in, oblivious to the conversation that the three were having together. Amy froze and Adam stood up as Matt stood at the door suddenly seeing who was in the room. A knife could cut the tension in the room as Trish shifted uneasily. Matt's eyes fell upon Amy and a secret and silent conversation was being held between them. Adam, sensing this, grabbed Amy's hand and his ring gear, preparing to leave. "Wait," Matt said, holding out his hand. Adam stopped and looked closely at him. "I, uh…just wanted to clear some things up…with Amy."

Adam and Trish looked at Amy apprehensive then at each other, each not wanting to leave Amy alone. Amy turned to her best friend and her boyfriend and nodded slowly. Regrettably, both did as she wished and left the locker room. As Adam closed the door, he stepped away from it and leaned against the wall. Trish raised her eyebrow. "You just going to stand there?"

Adam nodded. "I wanna be here in case…"

Trish nodded understanding the unspoken words that Adam was saying_. In case he or she does anything they'll regret_. Trish nodded and sat on a crate across from him. "I'll stay too." Adam smiled grateful at her.

* * *

"How are you?" Amy asked him, uneasy.

"How do you think?" There was no emotion in his voice, but it still hurt Amy to see him and hear him like that.

"Look…" she began.

"I don't want to hear it, Amy. You hurt me, worse than anyone ever has."

Amy nodded sadly. "I know. I wish it didn't happen like they did, but neither myself or Adam can change that."

"Do you love him?" he asked plainly.

Amy blinked. "What?"

"Do you love him?"

Amy nodded. "I think I might…yeah."

Matt sighed. "You loved me once."

"People change, Matt. You never understood that."

"I understand that you broke your promise." Amy didn't say anything or move. "I also understand that you embarrassed me publicly and got me fired."

Amy's eyes flashed. "That wasn't my fault! You broke character."

"And you were one to point that out, weren't you?" he sneered.

Amy took a threatening step towards him, shoving her finger in her chest. "Listen, asshole, I had nothing to do with you losing your job. Stephanie and her family were sitting backstage watching the whole fucking thing. You got yourself in that jam! Not me, not Adam. You!"

Matt moved his face into hers. "When I get in that ring tonight, Amy, I'm gonna kill him."

Amy scoffed. "I know that Stephanie warned you, Matt. You don't scare me."

"No?" he challenged. "You know that Vince and Shane think the same. You know that when they see me and your whore-man on the card they see dollar signs. Not you, Stephanie or Adam will stop me. And the great thing is that the fans are behind me! And they call you just like they should…_slut_!"

In one fluid motion, Matt swung the door open and stomped out. Amy couldn't stop as the tears stung her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She didn't even notice that Trish and Adam stepped back inside. Adam grabbed her cheek gently as she sank to the bench in despair. "Baby, what happened?" Adam asked softly. When Amy only sobbed louder, burying her face into Adam's neck, he looked up at Trish worried and seething inside. _I'm gonna kill that bastard…_


	13. Chapter 13

Stephanie watched the screen closely as the match wrapped up with Trish raising the Women's belt over her head much to the enjoyment of the fans. _Damn, she's good. _More storylines starting creeping into Stephanie's mind as she watched the fans reaction to Trish. She folded her hands in her lap as the lights in the arena abruptly shut off. Stephanie smiled vibrantly as she realized that her new diva was now making her debut. With Stephanie's family here, she wanted something big; something that make a huge impact and would please her father in particular.

"_Okay," Stephanie said as she approached Mindy in the locker room. "We need to create something enormous."_

_Mindy raised her eyebrows. "I thought we already planned this?"_

_Stephanie waved her off. "We did, but my family's here watching…"_

_Mindy immediately nodded her head. "Oh, got it."_

"_I also realized that you don't have a signature move," Stephanie said nervously._

"_A finisher?" Mindy asked to which Stephanie nodded. Mindy shrugged, "I'll think of something."_

"_I hope so," she said quietly. "Now, this is how you play it out there tonight…"_

Stephanie smirked as the unfamiliar music to the fans began to play. On cue with the music, the pyro then set off at the ramp, lighting up the stage. As the strobes went on, Trish looked around in confusion as the crowd quieted, not knowing what to expect from the new arrival. The dry ice quickly covered the ramp as a car engine was then heard. She watched as the red mustang that Mindy showed her before the show raced up the ramp in a very Steve Austin way and screeched to stop a few inches from the ramp. The camera angle caught the words plastered on the windshield. 'The Bitch Is Here'.

_Stephanie looked at the car in admiration and nodded her head. "I know it's ripping off your character," Mindy was saying. "But I got it done last year. I've always been a fan of yours…"_

"_No, I like it," Stephanie said. "It's something that will do with your character as a heel. I think it's perfect."_

_Mindy smiled. "Yeah?"_

"_Yeah," Stephanie agreed. "Besides, this can also get you a ticket to turning face."_

"_How?"_

_Stephanie smirked. "Well…I still have my wrestling gear…and I am _'The'_ Bitch after all."_

Trish stepped forward in the ring as the car door opened revealing Mindy. Trish was smiling inside at how creative both her and Stephanie were; and began to get pissed on the outside. To the fans, Mindy was a nobody. An athletic built brown-head woman who just interrupted the Women's Champion. As Mindy slid in the ring, Trish walked right up to her. The music died down and the crowds' reaction was mixed. As Trish started her screaming competition, Mickie got in the middle of the two and then turned to Mindy exchanging some words that couldn't be heard. Mindy looked Mickie up and down and shook her head in censure. She then kicked her in the stomach and bent down to carry her up on her shoulders, displaying her strength and executed the Cyclone. As Trish looked at Mickie in complete astonishment, Mindy stalked over to Trish, who attempted to slap her only to get kicked first and then Cyclone-d to the mat as well. As the crowd suddenly erupted in boos, Mindy's music picked up again as she bent to pick up the title and stare at it in reverence. She held it above her head as the crowd shouted their disapproval. She bent down at Trish and shouted at her then dropped the belt on her waist. Stephanie's grin never left her face as Mindy climbed the top rope and made the motion of the title belt around her waist. She grinned as she stepped out of the ring and looked at the two motionless women laying in the ring as she made her way up the ramp.

Stephanie shut the television off and stood up, her grin never leaving her face, as she walked out of her office, confident as ever, and walked over to the gorilla as she signaled the crew to cut to commercial. She giggled like a school girl as she saw Mindy walked back, grinning as well. "How was that?"

Stephanie hugged her. "That was perfect!" she said excitedly. "And did you hear that crowd?"

Amy walked up from behind them and hugged Mindy as well. "You did so great out there!" she exclaimed. "You totally kicked Trish's ass," she laughed. "I'm gonna rub this in her face for months!"

Mindy and Stephanie laughed as Trish and Mickie walked in the back with the aid of the referees. As the curtain closed behind them, they straightened themselves out and walked over to Stephanie and company, both grinning in approval. "That was so great," Trish said, supporting her belt on her shoulder.

"Yeah, did you hear that crowd?" Mickie added. "You're gonna be an instant hit girl."

Mindy smiled as Stephanie spoke up. "See? _This_ is exactly what Raw needs. Once Lisa returns next Monday, we're gonna show everyone exactly what the Raw divas are made of."

Every girl shouted their approval as Vince walked up to them. "Oh, a party I wasn't invited to?" he quipped.

Stephanie smiled shyly while they all quieted down. "Hi, Daddy."

Vince put his hands in his pocket and walked up to them. "Well, I have to admit, Stephanie," he said looking at Mindy. "You did one hell of a job."

"Thank you, Daddy."

Vince extended his hand out to Mindy, who grateful shook it. "I can see you becoming an immediate star," he commended. "I won't be too surprised if I see that title on your waist."

"Hey," Trish frowned.

Vince chuckled as his daughter spoke up. "You know, I think that the match we're going to have between Trish and Mindy shouldn't be scripted."

Trish looked at Stephanie, her eyes wide, clearly in shock. "We shouldn't?"

Stephanie shrugged. "No. We'll let it play out."

"Sounds good to me," Vince said. "Now if you'll excuse me."

As he started to walk away, Stephanie quickly chased him. "Daddy?"

He turned around and smiled. "I have to admit, Steph. I didn't think you'd pull it off. I never thought you'd make the kind of impact that you did. You did good."

Stephanie smiled. "Thanks." She paused as she walked with her father. "Daddy, was Matt the superstar you were planning on bringing back?"

"Hardy?" he scoffed. "Hell no." Seeing the confusion on his daughters face, he continued. "I brought Matt back because of the fans and _only_ the fans. He tried to discredit the WWE and the McMahon's. Hardy better be kissing the ground I walk on because I'll be damned if he screws me again."

"Dad, he made one mistake," Stephanie sighed.

"He broke character," Vince snapped. "On air, and live."

"Matt has brought the WWE a lot of money," Stephanie insisted."

"Yes," he agreed, "but when he was with his brother. Since 2003 up until his break up with Amy, Hardy has done nothing for the WWE but wrestle low grade matches. I'm giving him the second chance and if he fucks up then he's out for good, case closed."

Stephanie nodded and bit her lip as she saw Matt waiting at the gorilla for his match. She stopped walking and let her father saunter off without her as Adam approached her, his eyes on Hardy. "What did you tell him?" he asked softly.

Stephanie looked up at Adam and sighed. "To watch his step." Adam nodded and relaxed slightly. "Why, what happened?"

Adam clenched his fist. "He went off on Amy." Stephanie's nostrils flared as she saw on the crew men signaling at Adam. "I gotta go."

"Adam," Stephanie called. He looked back at her, his face a mask of sadness and anger. "Be careful."

Adam smiled gratefully and nodded as he headed out when his music started. Stephanie glared at Matt, giving him a silent warning, as Adam's opponent came out. Matt waited for his chance before he would run down the ring and tear Adam apart. Stephanie shook her head sadly. _There once was a time where we all got along…_

"Well, well," a deep voice said. "If it isn't my _favorite_ princess."

Stephanie groaned and rolled her eyes. She did not want to deal with him right now. Instead she began walking, hoping he wouldn't follow, but as she heard his foot steps right behind her, she sighed. "What do you want, Austin?"

Steve raised his eyebrows. "Oh, calling me by my ring name now?"

Stephanie spun around on her heel and glared at Steve. "Look, my father…for whatever reason in his god forsaking mind…decided to hire you back. _Not_ me. So you can go bother him and stay the _hell_ away from me."

Stephanie turned back around and began to walk away from him as she heard him speak to her again. "Heard you have a bun in the oven there."

Stephanie stopped and rolled her eyes. He _always has to have the last word…_ Stephanie turned around and shrugged. "So?"

Steve shrugged as well. "Just thought I'd congratulate you, but if you're gonna be a bitch about it…"

Stephanie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose as he turned to walk away. "No, I'm sorry." Steve stopped and turned around to look at her. "I mean, thank you."

Steve nodded. "So, you both excited?"

Stephanie smiled softly. "Yeah."

"The family?"

"Yep."

"Gonna be in the business?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Most likely. You all know…we all breathe our work."

"Yep."

"You going to actually stick around this time?"

Steve shrugged. "Probably. Got nothing better to do."

Stephanie nodded her head slightly and bit her lip as her and Steve stood uncomfortably in silence. Finally, he shook his head and sighed. "Fuck this; I can't do this…being nice to you."

Stephanie nodded in agreement. "Yeah… a lot harder than it sounds."

"We tried to be civil…"

"…I could give you credit for that."

"Likewise." They stood in the silence again until Steve looked up at Stephanie and spoke again. "You're a bitch."

"And you're a drunken asshole."

Steve nodded and extended his hand, to which Stephanie shook, "It was fun while it lasted," he said.

"Same to you," Stephanie replied. "Break a leg out there. Literally."

Stephanie watched Steve walk away as she heard the crowds chants grow loudly. She turned around, joined by Trish, to see Matt out in the ring beating up Adam with Amy trying to stop him, but to no avail. Stephanie rolled her eyes and looked at the crew members. "Will someone go out there and break that up?" Immediately, the workers went to action and did as Stephanie asked. She began to walk away again and sighed. "One of these days, those two are going to kill each other," she muttered angrily.

Trish shrugged. "Well, both parties are guilty."

Stephanie nodded in agreement and opened the door to her office and closing it behind Trish. "You know, I think I might have a solution to the two of them."

Trish raised her eyebrows and grinned. "Oh yeah? Care to share?"

Stephanie sat in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. "I think we should have a 'loser leaves Raw' match."

Trish's grin turned into a frown as she looked at Stephanie closely. "Steph, how're you going to determine who leaves and who stays?"

"Well that's it… _I_ won't," Stephanie answered. "I'm going to do what I'm doing with you and Mindy. We'll put them in a match that is not predetermined that way it's fair."

"And Amy?" Stephanie shrugged. "If Adam has to leave and Matt stays, she'll be heartbroken," Trish pointed out.

"I know that, but my hands are tied. I don't want her getting involved in that match and Adam and Matt need to get their aggression out," Stephanie acknowledged. "As a friend, I'm doing everyone a favor."

"Well, I don't care how talented your new diva is," Trish said changing the subject. "But she's not getting this title."

Stephanie smirked. "You're not worried, are you?"

Trish scoffed and waved her hand. "Please. Have you met me?" she said egotistically as she pointed at herself. Stephanie couldn't help but laugh. After a few moments Trish asked, "So have you and Paul talked?" Stephanie nodded but didn't say anything further. "Well?" Trish pressed.

Stephanie shrugged. "What? We talked."

"And…?"

"And…I guess we have to get baby stuff," Stephanie said smoothly.

"How did he react?"

"He's excited," she answered monotone.

Trish frowned. "And you're not?" Stephanie didn't say anything. "Steph…"

"I don't know what's wrong with me," Stephanie whispered. "I feel like this is the right time to start our family while at the same time I hear this little voice telling me it's not."

"Watch horror movies much?" Trish joked. Stephanie shot her a look and Trish held up her hands defensively. "Well, do you know why you feel that way?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No. I mean, at times I feel like Paul is hiding something from me but then when I see him and when he's smiling and laughing with me, I can never bring myself to say anything about it." Trish nodded in understanding as Stephanie continued. "And then there are other times, like today, where I just get this really bad feeling in the pit of stomach."

"A bad feeling?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, like something terrible is going to happen."

"Aw, Steph." Trish got up, leaving her belt on the chair, to hug Stephanie, who cried in her arms. "Stephanie, I think you're overstressed and nervous about this baby and you're job."

"Really?" Stephanie sobbed.

Trish pulled back and smiled at Stephanie's puffy eyes and red nose. "Yeah, really." Stephanie offered her a smile as she grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose. "You know," Trish said. "I could make so much fun of you right now…"

"Don't you dare," Stephanie warned.

"I won't, but only because I treasure that belt so much…"

"More then you're best friend?"

"Much more," Trish joked as she got up to pick up her belt.

Stephanie placed her hand over her heart and pretended to be shocked. "Oh! That stung."

Trish shot her a look and grinned. "I figured it would…Rudolph."

Stephanie gasped as Trish laughed and ran out of the door before Stephanie could throw anything at her. But Stephanie couldn't help but smile. She could always count on her friends to cheer her up when she was feeling like shit. Stephanie sighed in content. _With friends like these…_


	14. Chapter 14

**1. I'm going to Miami to see K-Fed get his ass handed to him. Yea! I'll be under the same roof with all these characters (well, most). **

**2. My net connection, for some unknown reason, sucks! Sorry for the delay.**

**3. Thank _Breaking Benjamin's song 'Breakdown'_ as this song i****nspired the chapter. I am leaving Jan. 15, so I gotta get this story done. Since the alert system is not working again, check regularly, every day or two, for updates.**

_

* * *

Lightning flashed again, casting the eerie blue light in the living room of the Levesque mansion, as the thunder boomed once more, shaking the windows. Stephanie opened her eyes quickly, startled, and sat up quickly as she looked around, not realizing where she was at the moment. Stephanie recognized the living room and sighed deeply, running her hands through her hair as the thunder boomed once more. Stephanie stood up and walked into the kitchen as the storm continued violently outside. She opened the refrigerator and took out bottled water. As she closed it, she saw pictures that were on the fridge. She looked at each one carefully; one was a picture of her and Trish, Paul and Michael, her and Paul, Paul's family, John and Adam, Amy, Lisa and Trish, Her and her family, Dwayne and Paul, her and John, her and Paul, and her, Paul and a newborn baby. Stephanie smiled at the picture; seeing them together with a child and happy made her feel warm and at peace. She was brought out of that dreamy state as the thunder crashed again and her baby started screaming. Startled, Stephanie ran into the living room, where the playpen was, and put the water down as she bent to pick up her daughter. As Stephanie balanced her, she rocked her gently and whispered words to sooth her. She quieted down as Stephanie caught a glimpse of the time on the entertainment center and frowned. "Where's your daddy, Aurora?" she whispered to her child. As Stephanie continued to bounce her on her leg, she heard the doorbell ring. Her frown deepened as she walked over to the door and saw red and blue lights flashing in the reflecting window. Stephanie glanced through the peephole then unlocked and opened the door. Standing on the porch were two uniformed officers; one male and one female. "Yes?"_

"_You are Mrs. Stephanie McMahon-Levesque?" the female officer asked. Stephanie nodded and the officer cleared her throat. "The wife of Paul Levesque?"_

_Stephanie frowned and began to grow impatient. "Yes."_

_The female officer glanced at the male officer who pointed over Stephanie's shoulder. "May we come in?" he asked gently._

_Stephanie raised her eyebrow as her puckered brow deepened, but nevertheless, she let the officers in. Once they were inside, Stephanie walked back into the living room, the officers following, and put Aurora back in her playpen. Stephanie turned to the officers and folded her arms. "Do you mind telling me what this is all about?"_

_The man cleared his throat and pointed to her couch. "Perhaps you should sit down, Mrs. Levesque."_

"_I'd much rather stand," Stephanie replied hastily._

_The officer nodded. "Very well." He held out his hand and the female officer handed him a vanilla color folder, one which Stephanie did not see before. "Mrs. Levesque…your husband, Paul, I'm afraid has been involved in an auto accident." _Accident_? Stephanie didn't hear the thunder crashing violently outside this time. Her attention was focused on two things; parts of what the officers were telling her, and what was in that folder. "We assume he was heading home, and with the rain and visibility…" There were certain parts of the speech that Stephanie did not hear; she had somehow tuned them out as tears formed in her eyes, blocking her vision. The only thing that she could hear was what her brain let her. "Drunk driver…brakes…wet roads…they tried…too much blood…even though the air bags deployed…" None of it made sense to her. Suddenly, she felt dizzy and wished she had taken the officers advice. She scarcely realized that Aurora was screaming again and that the storm had grown even more sadistic; so much so that the lights were flickering on and off. But none of this registered with Stephanie; her eyes were still on that folder. She cleared her throat and tried her best to find her voice. "Wh-what's in that…folder?"_

_The man looked down and handed it to her. "You don't have to look if you don't wish," he said softly._

_Stephanie took the folder into her shaking hands and opened it slowly. Somehow, she knew what was in it before opening it. She gasped at the sight as the water in her eyes began to fall down her cheeks like a waterfall. She sank down to the couch and brought her hand up to her mouth; whether it was to keep from vomiting or to keep from screaming, she didn't know. But to see Paul's car in a metal ball and too see the rain washing away the blood from the road was too much for Stephanie to handle. There was more though. As Stephanie turned the page, she sobbed even heavier. Lying motionless, covered in dirt, blood and water was Paul. Seemingly ejected from the car and killed on impact. Drowning in his own blood…that was when Stephanie blacked out…_

She gasped and sat up suddenly as sweat poured down from her forehead and neck, soaking her tank top. Stephanie glanced around the room in a panic and looked down next to her as she heard snoring. Lying there, in a deep sleep, was Paul. Stephanie sighed in relief and pressed her right hand over her heart, feeling it beat heavily, as if it wanted to break free. Stephanie pushed off the sheets from her side and quietly walked into the bathroom to wash her face and change her clothes. "It was just a nightmare," she whispered to herself as she pulled off the tank top and slipped on a large T-shirt. Stephanie chuckled quietly to herself, "Seemed pretty damn real," she muttered angrily. Moments later, her head was in the toilet, throwing up the last meal she ate. After several minutes, she brushed her teeth and studied her reflection in the mirror. _What's wrong with me_, she asked herself. _I've been having nothing but nightmares and nausea…damn pregnancy._ As Stephanie laid back down in her bed, she glanced at the clock next to her. _It's okay_, she told herself, _work will be good tomorrow.

* * *

_

"Why did you open your mouth?" Trish demanded.

Amy shrugged and shifted uncomfortably. "I'm sorry. It was just the spur of the moment," she answered sheepishly.

"Amy…now _everyone's_ gonna know that I'm retiring!"

"Well, you shouldn't have told _me_!"

"Obviously!"

"I'm sorry I let it slip," Amy replied. "It wasn't intentional."

Trish ran her hand through her blonde hair. "God…what if Stephanie heard?"

Amy shrugged just as she two heard shouting from an unmistakable voice. "Patricia Stratigias! When I get my hands on you, you are **DEAD**!"

Trish cringed and looked at Amy nervously and tried to surpress a giggle. Amy poked her head around the corner to see Stephanie making her way to them. She watched as Stephanie grabbed one of the crew members by the shirt and glared at him. "Where's Trish?"

The man literally began shaking as he pointing in Amy's direction. She saw as Stephanie narrowed her eyes and grinned evilly. Amy gasped and grabbed Trish and shoved her in to the men's locker room. Trish looked at Amy wide-eyed. "Hey!"

Amy covered Trish's mouth with her hand as they heard Stephanie's voice again. "Trish!" she screamed. "You can run but you can't hide!

Trish rolled her eyes and mumbled something as Amy's hand still covered her mouth. The door to the locker room opened and both women froze. As Trish held to her Champion belt defensly, Cena caught them cuddled up in the corner. He smirked at them and crossed his arms. Trish looked terrified, holding onto her belt for dear life, while Amy looked alert, her hand covering Trish's mouth. "Lemme guess," he said. "Stephanie's after y'all?"

Amy stood up straight and let Trish go, who only glared at John while he started laughing, placing his belt down on the bench. "It's Amy's fault," Trish muttered.

Amy scoffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Hey! I just saved your ass."

Trish rolled her eyes. "Only because Stephanie would have grilled you too for being the loud mouth."

"Ladies, ladies," John said. "Why not just put your differences aside and realize that Steph's gonna strangle you both?" he said with a chuckle.

"This is not funny, Cena!" Trish pouted. "Steph's been in such a pissy mood lately, I _do_ _not_ want to deal with her."

Amy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, she has been off her rocker lately."

John frowned. _Does she know? And if she does, will she be mad at him and Shane for not telling her? _

Trish, noticing John's sudden change in his mood, stepped up to him. "John, do you know something we don't?"

John looked at Trish and Amy, trying to be threatened by their looks. "That depends."

When Cena said nothing further, Amy walked next to Trish and stared him down too. "John…"

He sighed and and took off his hat, tossing it to the side and walked over to the door, locking it. When he turned around, both women looked at him confused. He pointed to the benches. "Sit down."

Amy and Trish did what he asked…and they suddenly became very nervous for what John was about to tell them…

* * *

"We want something big…" Randy was saying.

"Yeah," Adam agreeded. "Something huge…"

"To prove to the fans…"

"…to everyone…"

"…that we're the best…"

"…better than DX," Adam added, smugly.

Stephanie sat there with a blank expression on her face, not uttering a single word. Shane looked at his sister as the room was suddenly cast in an eerie silence. Both Randy and Adam looked at each other and frowned. Shane nudged his sister on the arm, taking her out of whatever trance she was in, and receiving an annoyed glare from her as he did. She looked towards Adam and Randy as they stared back at her. She sighed and picked up her paper work. "Do what you want."

Randy and Adam smiled and gave each other a high five as Stephanie stood up, followed by Shane. "You sure you're okay with this?" Shane asked.

Stephanie shrugged it off as Randy and Adam both got up to leave, acting like little boys who just got the best christmas giftes from their parents. "They finish each other's sentences," she said absently as she walked out of the office. "Gotta give 'em something for that."

Shane frowned as he followed Stephanie out. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"If you ask me that again, I'm gonna stick my pen in your eye," she snapped.

Shane wasn't sure if that was her way at making a stupid joke or if she was serious; either way, he didn't want to find out. Inside he rolled his eyes and walked past her as he muttered in anger, "Jeez, some mother you're gonna be."

Stephanie stooped walking and frowned at her brother's statement as it cut through like ice. _Maybe he's right,_ she thought suddenly. _I won't make a good mother. Everyone thinks I'm a slut or bitch…or both. I'm **not** mother material.

* * *

_

"God, I just can't figure it out!" Michael said in frustration.

Carlito raised his eyebrows as he finished applying his hand tape. "Can't figure what out?"

"Who Vince is bringing back."

"I thought it was Austin?"

Michael shook his hand as he slipped on his DX shirt. "Nah, Paul and I did too, but Stephanie claims that it never was."

Carlito nodded his hand as he grabbed his shirt from his locker. "Well, if I was a bettin' man, which I am not, I would say he'd bring The Rock back."

Michael raised his eyebrows. "Really? Why?"

Carlito shrugged. "Cuz he sucks as an actor."

Michael laughed as the door opened and Paul walked in. He nodded at Michael then at Carlito. "Hey, Mike, Carlos."

"Hey man," Michael nodded back. "You heard who Vince is bringing back yet?"

Paul shook his head and tossed his cell phone into his bag. "No, but Linda told me that he plans on introducing him at the next Pay-per-view."

"We gotta wait that long?" Mike whined.

Paul shrugged. "He ain't even telling Steph…"

Carlito shook his head. "That's not cool."

* * *

Amy and Trish sat in the women's locker room in silence; neither one spoke to each other. They both sat there staring into space; lost in their own thoughts. They didn't even notice that Mindy and Lisa had walked in. As Mindy went to her locker to get dressed, Lisa stood in between Amy and Trish and looked back and forth from them. "Guys?" Trish looked up at Lisa, but said nothing. "You two okay?"

"Yeah," Amy answere in monotone.

Lisa raised her eyebrows as Mindy joined them. "You sure?"

"Yeah."

Lisa and Mindy exchanged looks at their odd behavior but shrugged it off. "Well, see ya out there."

Trish looked at Amy as the two women left the locker room. "Should we do something?"

"Like what?"

Trish shrugged. "I don't know."

Amy shook her head. "No, John said not to. He told us that he and Shane will take care of it."

"I think we need to tell her," Trish insisted. "Steph's going through so much. She needs to know if Paul is cheating."

"Yeah, but with Melina?" Amy scoffed then shook her head. "I don't think Paul is cheating."

"You never know," Trish said. "Men are always men."

Amy sighed sadly. "Not always."

Trish frowned and stood up to sit next to Amy and wrap her arms around her shoudlers. "Look, this whole thing with Matt and Adam will blow over soon. Steph will take care of it and you know Adam will fight for you."

Amy nodded sadly. "I know." She suddenly smiled brightly. "I do have one thing to look forward too though."

"What?"

"Steph, kicking your ass."

* * *

John knocked softly on Stephanie's office door. When he heard her answer, he slowly opened the door and crept in. Like usual, Stephanie was buried in her work. It was unusual today however because she wasn't around the arena that much. Normally she was yelling at someone or be around a crowd in the back, but tonight she had not been seen much by anyone. "You okay?" he asked.

Stephanie didn't look up but nodded and answered, "Yes. Why?"

John shrugged. "Nothing…"

Stephanie looked up at John and saw him looking down. Sighing deeply, she dropped her pen, took off her glasses, and leaned back slightly. "John…what's wrong?"

He sighed as well and shifted his stance. "I don't want to tell you this," he muttered.

Stephanie frowned. "Don't want to tell me what?"

John looked at her tired eyes sadly and he felt his heart break for her. "Stephanie…" he sighed. "Maybe I shouldn't…"

He turned around and as he placed his hand on the doorknob he heard her speak. "John, you come in here acting all weird and bothering me from my work…the least you can do is tell me why you're here and acting like a weirdo."

John dropped his head and turned back to her. "You're not gonna like it…"


	15. Chapter 15

Matt grabbed Adam by the hair and threw him into the wall. He hit the wall on impact and groaned in pain as he felt blood flow freely from his nose. Adam shielded his face as he saw Matt stalking towards him again, raising his fists and hitting Adam. He scarcely heard Amy screaming in the back round as a crowd gathered around them. Adam felt someone pull Matt off him and he took the time to stand up. He touched his nose and saw his blood all over his hand and floor. He felt Amy's hand touch his shoulder, but looking at Matt and seeing his vengeful eyes, he saw nothing but red. Adam yelled and charged at Matt, spearing him and hearing Matt's back hit the concrete floor as Adam began to hit Matt in the face. By this time, Adam felt someone grab him and pull him roughly off of Matt. "Get the fuck off me!" he yelled.

"Come down!" Steve shouted as he pushed him away from Matt and blocked his path.

Adam saw Paul holding Matt back as he yelled, "I'm gonna kill him!"

"Bring it!" Adam shouted back.

"Enough!" Steve yelled again as he pushed Adam back again and held out his arms. "If you two don't settle down right now, I'm gonna open a can of whoop ass on you both!"

"What the hell is going here?" Stephanie asked as she John approached the scene. Stephanie narrowed her eyes at Adam and Matt, both that ignored her presence. "What the fuck is the problem?" she demanded again but more austerely. She saw Adam's nose bleeding, Amy crying hysterically with Trish trying to sooth her, and Matt bleeding from an open cut on his forehead.

"These two girls just started a pissing match," Steve answered while looking at Matt and Adam both to make sure they didn't start fighting again.

"All right, you know what?" Stephanie said angrily. "I am so sick of you two and your fucking fighting. This is getting resolved the McMahon way." Both Matt and Adam raised their eyebrows and looked at Stephanie. "I'm putting you two in a ladder match. At the top of the ladder will be a briefcase. Whoever wins gets a title shot," she told them. "Who ever loses is fired."

Adam looked at Stephanie with wide eyes. "What? Steph…"

Matt smiled at him evilly. "Afraid you're gonna lose?" he challenged.

"Oh, shove it!"

"Enough!" Stephanie screamed. Everyone became silent and looked at Stephanie taken aback. "Until next Monday, you two are to stay away from each other. If I see either of you in the same room, I'll fire you."

With that, Stephanie spun on her heel and stomped off. Everyone looked at each other in a state of shock and silence. Paul glanced at them then took off after his wife. "Hey!" Paul called out as he caught up with her. "Stephanie, wait."

"What for?" she snapped.

Paul frowned and grabbed her shoulder, spinning her around to look at him. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," Stephanie spat, grabbing his hand forcefully and pulling it off her.

Paul watched her walk off again in surprise. "Steph…"

"Just stay away from me!"

Paul watched as Stephanie disappeared in the corridor as he felt someone's hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Melina watching Stephanie disappear. "What's with her?"

Paul shook his head slowly and frowned. "I don't know."

* * *

"What do you mean you told her?" Shane demanded.

John shrugged. "She wanted to know."

"God dammit, John…" Shane muttered as he took off his jacket. "How'd she take it?"

"She threw up," he answered grimacing. "It wasn't pretty…"

"I'm not joking…"

"Me either," John replied. "I think she wants evidence, you know? Like it's hard to believe?"

Shane nodded his head. "Because it is."

"What did you two do?" John and Shane turned to see a very pissed off Trish standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and glaring at the two men. "Do you want to explain to me why Stephanie is even more pissed off then she was when she got here?"

Shane pointed at John. "Because Cena opened his mouth."

Trish narrowed her eyes at John who backed up a few feet. "Hey, she needed to know."

"We don't know if he is cheating!" Trish said loudly.

"Who's cheating?"

All three turned around to see John, Melina's boyfriend, standing behind Trish, looking at each of them carefully, all asking themselves the same question. _Were Paul and Melina cheating?

* * *

_

Stephanie pulled out her keys from her purse and fumbled with them as she approached her car. As she stopped by it, her hands were shaking so violently that she dropped her keys. Cursing to herself, she bent down to pick them up. When she stood up again, she looked over the hood of her car and saw Paul and Melina walking to a rental car together, laughing. Stephanie narrowed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself. She clicked the button on her eyes and opened the door, starting the car up. Throwing her purse in the seat next to her, Stephanie shifted the car to the drive and burned rubber as she left the arena. She purposely took the back way out to avoid any fans that were leaving the show. As she drove down the highway, she saw Melina's rental car a few cars behind her. Curiosity got the best of Stephanie as she switched over to the far right lane and slowed down to let them past her. As Stephanie kept her distance, she grabbed her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She glanced at it to see if she had any missed calls; hoping that Paul had called her worried, but there were no calls. Stephanie became more furious and upset as she wiped away the tears that fell down her cheeks.

It was about six miles or so when Stephanie pulled into a motel. It wasn't a very nice one; not like her and the stars stayed in, but it wasn't too run down either. It was simply a place in which Stephanie would never be caught in; sitting in her Mercedes, Stephanie felt out of place and a little scared that she'd be carjacked. As she saw Melina's car, the thoughts disappeared from her mind as she parked in a far and dark place, watching as her husband and Melina stepped out of the car. Stephanie shut off her lights and engine as she peered through the windshield. She saw Melina tuck her hand in Paul's belt and Stephanie became furious. She watched in silence as her blood began to boil and the night carried on.


	16. Chapter 16

Paul sighed as he slipped in the card at his hotel door and opened it, slowly and quietly stepping inside. He silently closed the door and locked it, putting the dead bolt on, and put his keys and bag to the floor. Paul adjusted his eyes in the dark room as he stepped further in the hotel.

"Where've you been?"

Paul stepped back slowly, taken aback by his wives voice, as he flipped on the light switch, lighting the room up. Paul looked at Stephanie closely and felt a sharp pain in his chest. She looked dreadful. Like she hadn't slept for days and she had been crying for hours; she was in the same outfit from that night and her hair was not brushed. Paul's eyes locked onto a glass that Stephanie was holding. "Is that wine?" he demanded.

Stephanie snorted and stood up, throwing the glass across the room and shattering it against the wall. "I'm a complete idiot," she hissed. Paul frowned at her tone but held his ground as she walked past him and into the bathroom. "You didn't answer the question."

Paul shrugged. "I was out."

Stephanie stepped out of the bathroom and glared furiously at him. "I didn't ask for you to be vague either."

"Why are you grilling me?" Paul snapped. "What the fuck is your problem?"

Stephanie crossed her arms across her chest and burned a hole through Paul, which caused him to swallow hard. "What were you and Melina doing at that Day's Inn?"

Paul froze; his blood turned cold and his eyes switched to his wives face. It was hard, set, determined and searching for an answer. She took his silence as the answer she was hoping she wouldn't get. Stephanie shook her head feverishly and shoved Paul as she moved to the dresser. She pulled it open so aggressively that it fell to the floor. She ignored what she had done and pulled all the clothes out and threw them on the bed. "I cannot fucking believe you!"

"Stephanie…"

"We haven't even been married that long and you're already fucking someone else behind my back!"

"Stephanie, please…" Paul moved toward her, attempting to hug and calm her but Stephanie only slapped the taste right out of his mouth. Paul moved his hand to his face and looked at Stephanie miserably.

She glared at him and pointed her finger in his face. "Don't you fucking touch me," she hissed venomously. "You can get your stuff and get the fuck out of here."

Paul looked at her wide-eyed. "Steph…"

"And while you're at it," she added. "Put in your resignation form. You're _fired_."

"Stephanie!" He watched with pained eyes as she grabbed her things and stormed out of the room, slamming the door. Paul looked at the door, not quite realizing what had just transpired. Once he did, he slammed his fist into the wall closest to him, ignoring the blood that covered his hand.

* * *

Trish sighed in contentment as she lied on her bed in the hotel and closed her eyes. Despite the fact that her friends world seemed to be crashing down on them, her life was anything but. Her high school sweetheart and her were getting married soon. She felt guilty that she didn't have the drama that Amy and Stephanie had at the moment, but she wanted to take the time that she had to herself to revel in it.

She opened her eyes suddenly as she heard banging on her door. She sighed and stood up. _Well…it was great while it lasted,_ she thought dourly. The banging continued and Trish sighed exasperated. "Alright, hold on!"

She unlocked the door and opened it, ready to scream at the person on the other side. "What the hell-?" Trish stopped in mid-sentence as she saw Paul standing in front of the door looking like hell in every way. "Paul?" She caught a glimpse of his hand, covered in dried blood. "What happened?" she cried.

Paul pushed past her and into her room, looking around. "Where is she?"

Trish closed the door and raised her eyebrows. "Who?"

"Stephanie!"

Trish mouthed an 'Oh' and grabbed Paul by his other hand and pulling him to the bed. "Is it true?" she asked quietly.

Paul looked at her bewildered and cursed under his breath. "You know about it too?"

She sighed and stepped away from him. "Then I guess that's a yes…" she muttered.

Paul stood up and quickly shook his head. "No, I answered that wrong. I'm _not_ cheating!"

"You're not?" Paul shook his head. "Then explain to me what John and Shane saw you doing with Melina."

"Cena and Shane started this rumor!" he asked heatedly.

Trish quickly shook her head. "No! They just saw you spending a lot of time together, alone, and in secret." Trish then shook her head. "We all just assumed the worse."

"I was with Melina because I was giving Stephanie a present!" he cried. "I didn't want her to find out about it so we needed to keep it a secret."

"Why?" she asked. "And why with Melina?"

"Her cousin is a real estate agent," Paul told her. "When we were touring in Florida, Stephanie saw this house that she really liked, but the owners refused to sell it. She wanted to get one built but there wasn't any location that she liked."

Trish shrugged. "So?"

"So, Stephanie mentioned that she was upset that she couldn't get it and me trying to be a good husband, I mentioned something to Melina and she told me about her cousin."

"So…the whole time, you and Melina have been trying to get that house? Stephanie's dream house?"

Paul nodded. "It was going to be her birthday gift. I didn't think John and Shane would've thought I was cheating…and with Melina!"

Trish giggled then blushed and quieted at Paul's expression. "Sorry, but in situations like these, you have to laugh to keep from crying."

Paul buried his hands in his face. "What the fuck am I going to do? How will she believe me?"

"Well, first thing first…we have to find her."

Paul shook his head. "If doesn't want to be found…she won't."

Trish shook her head and grabbed her things. "Trust me, Paul. She'll want to be found."

* * *

John opened one of his eyes as he was awaken by his phone ringing. He grunted as he reached for it and saw the time on the clock across the room. He flipped it open. "This better be good," he muttered.

"Cena!"

John sat up, both eyes open, and alert. "Paul. Why are calling on Trish's phone?"

"Because I'm with her," he snapped. "Listen, is Stephanie there with you?"

"No." He heard Paul curse and tell Trish something. "What is going on?"

"Well, thanks to you Stephanie thinks that I cheated on her."

"And you're telling me you didn't?" John replied crossly.

"I didn't!" Paul snapped. "You should've confronted me first instead of running your mouth to my wife!"

"Hey! I did what any friend would've!" Cena snapped back.

Paul sighed over the phone. "Look, right now I'm concerned with finding Stephanie."

"Alright, what do you want me to do?"

"Meet us at the arena. Maybe she went back there for some reason."

Cena shut his phone, grabbed one of his shirts, his wallet and ran out of his hotel room.

* * *

Adam flipped on the light and squinted at the sudden brightness and Amy groaned. He rubbed her shoulder and picked up his ringing cell phone. "What?"

"Yo man, it's Cena."

Adam frowned at Amy sat up and glared at him for waking her up. He smiled weakly at her and she rolled her eyes at him, getting out of the bed and into the bathroom. "It's one in the morning, John."

"I know, I know, but Stephanie is missing."

"Missing?" he repeated. Amy came back out of the bathroom and looked at Adam, worried. "How can Stephanie be missing?"

"Because we all thought that Paul was cheating and word got to her," John answered.

"_Is_ he cheating?"

"No. Supposedly it's just a big misunderstanding."

"What's going on?" Amy asked awake and worried.

"What do you want us to do?" Adam asked, ignoring Amy.

"Call around and check the east side," Cena told him. "Paul wouldn't be this worried if he didn't believe that something could happen to her."

"Alright, we'll take care of it." He closed his phone and looked at the concerned Amy. "Steph's missing," he said.

Tears immediately came to Amy's eyes as she put her hands over her mouth and muttered, "Oh God…"

* * *

"Are you sure?" Paul asked over the phone.

"Yeah," Michael answered. "I checked the restaurant we were at yesterday, the airport, the clubs on the west side…I haven't seen her or her car, anywhere."

Paul sighed. "Alright, thanks man."

"I'll keep looking though."

Paul closed his phone as Trish rubbed his shoulder. "She'll be fine."

"I dunno," Paul said, shaking his head. "You ever have that feeling in your stomach that you know something terrible is going to happen?"

Trish didn't answer as they saw a taxi come around the corner to the arena. It stopped beside Trish's car as John and Randy both got out and ran up to them.

"Hey, any luck?" Randy asked as they approached them. Paul shook his head sadly and sat down on the curb. Randy shot a look at Trish and she only looked back at him mournfully for Paul.

"Alright, we need to go out and look for her," John said.

Randy nodded his head agreeing as Paul suddenly stood up and grabbed John by the shirt. "This is your fault you little punk!"

"Hey!" Randy shouted, getting in between the two.

Paul pointed his finger at John still enraged. "If you hadn't opened your fucking mouth, Stephanie would've never followed me and believed that I was cheating!"

"If you hadn't been sneaking around then none of this would've happened!" John snapped livid. "The only person to blame here is yourself!"

"Guys!" Trish yelled getting involved. "This is not helping us right now. Stephanie is out there in uncharted territory. The sooner we get a hold on her, the better," she reminded them.

Paul and John both relaxed, but kept their eyes on each other, as Randy asked Paul, "You tried her cell?"

"Yeah, it says it's out of service."

Trish started to walk to the car. "Well, come on then."

Randy followed her while Paul shot John a glare as he followed them as well.

* * *

John sat in the back seat, next to Randy, and sighed as he looked at his cell phone again. Randy glanced over at him and shot him a look. "Will you stop looking at your phone?"

John ignored him and leaned forward towards Paul, who sat in the passenger seat. "Look, we've been to five different clubs and bars, three restaurants, the gas stations, the parks, the movie theaters, the beach, and twenty different hotels," he said. "I think it's time we get the cops in on this."

Paul shook his head sadly as Trish nodded her head. "Yeah…I agree."

"What about her parents?" Randy asked.

Trish looked at Paul, as they waited for him to answer, but when he didn't, Trish spoke up, looking in the rearview mirror, "They would've called if she was with them."

"Where could she be?" Paul whispered as he gazed outside the window.

Randy leaned forward and pointed at the windshield. "Hey, look towards your right."

Trish did so and frowned. Yards in front of them they saw taillights and smoke. "It looks like an accident," she pointed out.

"Pull over," Randy said. "Maybe they need help."

Trish pulled the car over the shoulder as all four exited the car. Because it was three in the morning, there was no traffic, and apparently no cops or civilians to call the cops. John and Randy were the first ones to approach the car, with Trish and Paul trailing behind them. Randy and John jogged up to the car and stopped a few feet from it as Randy shouted out to Trish. "Hey, you got a flashlight?" he yelled out to Trish. She nodded and ran back to the car to retrieve it. Randy examined the damage; the front of the car was wrapped around a tree and there were skid marks on the road. From the wet roads from the evenings previous rain shower, Randy assumed that the driver lost control. As Trish ran back to them, Randy moved to the other side to take a better look at the car when he and John both froze. "Oh, fuck," Randy muttered.

"What?" Paul asked as he and Trish walked closer.

John looked at Paul, on the verge of panicking as Paul's eyes grew wide. "It's Steph's car…"


	17. Chapter 17

**THREE MONTHS LATER**

Raw was at its peak; Cena was at his peak; DX was at their peak and WWE was kicking ass and taking names. Now dipping into Hollywood and opening a WWE Films studio, while still selling out shows around the world, the WWE became one of the most successful industries around today. The performers and McMahon's were the ones' most notably recognized for the huge impact that the company made. While Stephanie was thriving in the news, patching up her personal life was a whole different matter. After a full three months of recovering from her accident, Stephanie was now ready to appear, once again, on national television. Her 'diva' Mindy, who was looking to make a huge impact in the company, had been successful during Stephanie's time away from the WWE.

If life was ever fair to Stephanie McMahon then her unborn child would've survived the accident. It was on that fateful night three months ago that Stephanie believed her fate had been determined and sealed. The verity that Stephanie had stormed off angry at Paul, who never had an affair to begin with, and hadn't paid attention to her state of mind when she got in the car, determined _that_ to Stephanie. The fact that she was speeding on the highway when she lost control and it didn't give a damn about the consequences. She had never believed in fate until after that accident. Stephanie knew what no one dared to think or say; she murdered her child. Whether it was intentionally or not didn't matter to her. Everyone pitied her. If she was ever thankful of any of the events that had transpired up to this point in her life, it was the fact that the news of her accident and unborn child was never released to the public. Not even the WWE crew knew about the incident; only Paul and Stephanie's family and few friends knew.

As Stephanie's limo approached the arena, her thoughts wondered to her husband as she looked over the match card for the night. She knew her marriage was falling apart; she felt it. She and Paul were becoming more and more distance as the days went on. They kept up appearances but their life together was anything but romantic. Stephanie knew it was her fault and she didn't blame Paul for feeling the way he felt.

Stephanie sighed deeply and looked down at her lap where her briefcase was laying. A few papers were sticking out of it and Stephanie pulled them out and glanced at them. They were the divorce papers that she had yet to sign. Stephanie believed the only way to give Paul the life he deserves was an out; and that out would be a divorce from her. She put the papers neatly back in the briefcase as the limo pulled in the arena and came to a slow stop. She glanced at her watch and smiled to herself. _Four hours until show time._ When the door opened to her limo, she handed the man her briefcase and stepped out, brushing her hair back and standing straight, feeling more beautiful and confident then she had in months. She looked around at the parked trailers and trucks as she heard screaming and cheering. Looking up, she saw a few fans standing on the platform, apparently having arrived early for the show, and smiled and waved at Stephanie while taking pictures. Stephanie smiled and waved at them as they yelled out, "We love you Steph!" or "Return to TV!" or whistling at her. Stephanie blushed as she was led in the back by her security. As she walked in, several crew members and CSC members walked up to her, handing her a walkie talkie and a clipboard. "Stephanie, you're late," her father scolded her as he approached.

Stephanie kept her attention on the clipboard and clipped the walkie talkie to her belt not looking up once as she replied, "Hi Dad."

Vince looked at her in her jeans and blouse and frowned. "Are you going out in that tonight?" he asked.

Stephanie shot him a look, suddenly remembering that she and her father had decided that she begin a feud with one of the divas. "What's the difference?" Vince shrugged and before he could say anything Stephanie scoffed and walked away, followed by a dozen of employees. "Where's Mindy? I have to make sure she knows the script perfectly."

Vince sighed. "She knows the script, Stephanie. Things ran fine when you weren't here."

Stephanie stopped. _Ouch_. She turned around and narrowed her eyes at her father, who realized his slip up. "I understand that, but now that I'm back…_I'm_ running things the way that _I_ want."

Vince nodded slowly. "What do you think?" he asked slowly.

Stephanie continued to walk. "About what?"

"About your diva's quest for the WWE title."

Stephanie turned around again, stopping. "I'm sorry…did I hear that correctly?" she asked, astonished. "Did you just tell me that Mindy, a _woman_…a girl, wants to hold the WWE Championship belt?" Vince nodded. "You've got to be kidding me," she muttered.

Vince shrugged. "We did it for Carlos…"

"Yeah, and still to this day we're hearing about it," Stephanie said cutting him off. "It's too controversial to do."

"We're the McMahon's," her father reminded her. "Everything we do is controversial. Besides, you could use that to feud with Mindy."

Stephanie shook her head. "It's not a good idea."

"I'll give you time to think it over, Stephanie," Vince said as he started to walk away. "Just remember, I don't need you to sign off on the idea."

"Hey girl!" Stephanie glared after her father as her attention was turned to the voice as Amy came running up to her, hugging her tightly.

"Amy…I…can't…breathe," Stephanie stuttered.

Amy blushed and let go of her. "It's so good to see you."

Stephanie raised her eyebrow. "I saw you yesterday, Amy."

"I know…but I mean back here, at work, at Raw."

Stephanie smiled at Amy and shifted uneasily as several workers who were walking by stopped and looked at her. She grabbed Amy's arm and began to walk towards her office. "Come on; let's go someplace private, I can't stand being stared at."

* * *

Paul sat in the stands of the empty arena and watched as the crew members began to set everything up. Despite the fact that his career was soaring…his personal life and marriage was falling apart. The image of Stephanie's car wrapped around that tree would never leave his mind. Night after night he had the same nightmare of his wife dying. For some reason, the fates let Paul and his friends save her but not their child. Stephanie took the loss the hardest; after all, she was carrying it in her womb. Paul knew that everyone in that party; himself, Stephanie, and John, were all responsible in some small and twisted way. John and he had come to blows and ended up nearly killing each other in the ring together, both blaming the other, while Stephanie sat back, lost in her grief, and blamed herself. It wasn't until last month that Paul and John put their differences and past aside and became friends again, both helping Stephanie with the traumatic experience. Paul knew life was never fair; he had nothing but good luck since he came into the business. He knew this bad luck was bound to happen. But he didn't want to lose Stephanie; physically or otherwise. He loved her; still loved her, with all his heart. He thought that giving her the house she wanted in Florida would help, but it didn't. Losing a child was an experience that you couldn't just _get_ over. One week after buying the house, they put it up for sale again. "Hey man," Michael said as he flashed Paul a small smile and took the seat next to him. Paul smiled back at his best friend and looked around the arena again, amazed at how quickly the crew could set the stage up. "How you doing?" Mike asked him.

Paul snorted. "Depends on what day you ask me."

"Things'll get better, man," Michael told him. "You know that."

Paul shook his head. "I'm sure anymore, Mike. Our entire lives are falling apart. We're not the same people we were four months ago."

"Yeah, but its in the experiences and the unfair balance of the world that leads us to become better educated people," Michael told him.

Paul shot him a perplexed look. "What?"

Michael laughed and patted him on the back as he stood up. "That'll make sense to you one day," he said. "I'll see ya out there."

Paul nodded as Michael left and rolled his words around in his head.

* * *

Adam and Randy walked into the gym to see John already in there and doing his reps. Adam shot Randy a look and walked over to the machine that John was on. He looked at the amount of weights he was pushing and raised his eyebrows as John grunted. "200? Don't you think that's overkill?"

John finished his set and stood up stretching his muscles. "Nah," he said.

Randy shot him a look. "Yeah, I actually think it is." John shook his head and bent down as he began to do his pushups. Randy and Adam kept their eyes on him, surprised at his coldness and mental state. Adam began his warm-ups as Randy bent down next to John. "Yo, man…what's going on?" he asked calmly.

John shook his head as he breathed in between the pushes. "Nothing."

"Bullshit."

John stopped and looked at Randy then rose to his feet. "What do you want me to say?"

Randy stood up as John did and stared at him sorrowfully. "Look man, I was _there_, remember? I saw the car in the tree. I saw all the blood and I was in the hospital. You, Paul and Stephanie have got to stop blaming yourselves. Shit like this happens."

John dried himself off with the towel. "I know…but it doesn't make it any easier."

"Dude, I know," Randy protested. "We all want things to return to normal and to be normal but it won't…not for awhile."

John shook his head and threw the towel across the room. "I shouldn't have opened my mouth. I shouldn't have told Stephanie…"

"It probably would've happened anyways," Randy told him.

"Yeah," Adam said as he finished his warm ups. "Besides, if you didn't say something, Trish or Amy would've."

John nodded as he thought about it and Randy patted his arm. "Look man, we're all here now, we're all alive and in good health. The past is in the past. To help Paul and Steph you gotta stop blaming yourself."

John nodded and hugged his best friend. "You're right, man. You're right." As they broke apart they shook hands. "Thanks a lot."

Randy flashed him a smile. "No prob."

* * *

The only sound coming from Stephanie's office was from her television. The show had started an hour ago and the fans were beginning to get hyped up for the main event; Cena and DX against Rated RKO and Umaga. The feud between Eddie and John was starting to die down so Stephanie knew she'd have to work on his new opponent while she wrote in DX to challenge Adam and Randy for the titles; another opportunity for Mindy's storyline. Whether Stephanie wanted to admit it or not…the girl was smart.

"So, how have things been here?" Stephanie asked Amy as she sat at her desk with her computer and paper work in front of her.

Her opposite sat across from her in the couch examining her nails and ignoring the show as Stephanie looked over her work. "It's been alright," Amy sighed.

Stephanie looked up at her friend through her glasses. "I meant…personally."

Amy looked up and at Stephanie culpable. "Oh. Fine."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "Just fine?"

Amy nodded. "Yeah…just been thinking about some things. But, Matt's on Smackdown now so…the more distance between him and Adam, the better."

Stephanie nodded, remembering watching the match in the hospital the week after her accident. Stephanie remained silent thinking that Amy didn't want to elaborate. Both women looked up at Stephanie's office door opened and Trish walked in. "Hey. Am I still welcome in here?"

Stephanie flashed her a smile and nodded as Amy giggled. When Trish closed the door, Amy grabbed her by her jeans and pulled her to the couch, hugging her tightly. "Are you enjoying retirement life?"

Trish bit her lip and glanced over at Stephanie, who went back to her work and wasn't paying attention, then looked back at Amy and shrugged. "Honestly?" Amy nodded. "I really didn't plan for it so…it's kinda boring."

Stephanie snorted at Amy began to laugh. Trish only smiled, allowing her friends to make fun of her and think what they wanted. "So, who's the champ now?"

"You haven't been following?" Amy asked. Trish shook her head and looked at Stephanie again, who went back to burying herself in her work. "Mindy's the new champion. She and Mickie are feuding while Lisa and Torrie are feuding."

"Ah," Trish said nodding her head. "Shouldn't the two blondes be going at it?" she joked.

"You'd think," Amy laughed. Stephanie stood up abruptly, grabbing a handle full of her papers, and began to walk out. "Where're you going?"

Stephanie opened the door and turned to them. "I've, uh…got to get these revised scripts to some of the girls," she said.

Trish frowned but before she could say anything, Stephanie walked out, not bothering to close the door behind her. She turned to Amy instead. "I'm worried about her."

Amy nodded her head, frowning as well. "I know. I can't imagine losing a child and having your marriage fall apart."

"How's Paul doing?"

"You know…he blames John; John blames himself; Stephanie doesn't blame them but only herself," Amy told her glumly.

Trish shook her head. "Now I wish I never left," she whispered miserably.

* * *

Stephanie walked up to the holding area near the curtain and saw Mindy and Lisa standing there. She walked up to them and handed each of them the scripts. "What's this?" Mindy asked.

"The scripts," Stephanie answered. "Nothing but a few lines has changed. I just wanted to give them to you before we go out."

"Cool."

"Hey, Steph, it's good to have you back," Lisa replied. "Your brother was getting a little annoying," she joked.

Stephanie laughed. "Thanks Lisa. That's means a lot."

Lisa nodded as she heard her music cue up. "Well, that's my cue. See ya out there."

Stephanie nodded and turned to Mindy who was looking over the script. "So…I hear you pitched a storyline."

Mindy nodded. "Yeah."

Stephanie stood there, expecting Mindy to continue, and when she didn't she spoke up again. "The WWE title, Mindy?" she exclaimed, completely flabbergasted.

Mindy looked up at her and sighed, closing the script. "Look, I know it's not something that you'd approve."

Stephanie raised her eyebrows. "Oh. And you know what I would and wouldn't approve of?" she questioned.

"No, not like that," Mindy said as serenely as possible. "I meant in relative terms. A woman going after a heavyweight belt isn't logical. But you said it yourself; you want divas to make a statement."

"Not that kind of statement," Stephanie sneered as Mindy threw her words back at her. "We have a weight class for a reason."

"Yeah," Mindy agreed. "And Carlos got the heavyweight belt though, didn't he?"

"First of all, _not_ my idea," Stephanie replied, raising her finger in Mindy's face. "Second of all, he's a man who has sixty pounds on you."

"Okay. Then how about Joanie holding the Intercontinental belt?"

"Once more…she had more pounds then you!"

Mindy chuckled and folded the script up, tossing it aside. "What was it that Bischoff said? 'Controversy creates cash'."

Stephanie sneered at her as Mindy's music cued up and she headed to the curtain. Before she went out there, she turned back to Stephanie. "It really is good to see you're back," she told her candidly. Mindy flashed her a smile and put the women's belt around her waist as she headed out to the ring.


	18. Chapter 18

Mindy rolled up Lisa for the pin as the crowd rose to their feet. One…Two…Three. The crowd was vociferous as Mindy's music hit and she was handed her championship back, retaining the Woman's Belt, much to the enjoyment of all the fans. Mindy stood on the ropes and held up the belt over her head as Mindy's music stopped and Stephanie McMahon's hit. Instantly, the crowd grew silent, some cheering and others booing to some extent, as Mindy turned and looked at the ramp in confusion as Stephanie walked up and into the ring. Mindy jumped down from the ropes and placed her belt over her shoulder as Stephanie motioned for a microphone. Stephanie turned and looked at Mindy. The sight of seeing the rookie holding the Woman's belt over her shoulder in the similar fashion that Trish had always done made Stephanie wish that Trish never retired; even better, that Stephanie had been there for her final match. When Stephanie's music faded out, she brought the microphone up to her lips. "Well," she began. "Congratulations." Mindy nodded and smiled as the fans cheered. "You won the woman's battle royal after Trish retired and you successfully defended your title against Victoria. That is truly the display of a champion," Stephanie applauded. "However…it's fine for you while you hold _that_ title," she said, pointing to her belt. "But for you to go after a WWE title is unheard of." Much to Stephanie's surprise, the fans began to boo. She looked out into the crowd then back at Mindy. "I don't know where you get off, _Destiny_, but I can promise you one thing…you will never get a WWE title shot as long as I am here!" Once more, fans booed, perhaps even louder as Stephanie smirked at all of them and turned back to Mindy. "The most dominant female in this industry…_the_ bitch…is back!" Stephanie dropped her mic on the mat as her music began again and she left the ring with a mix reaction with the fans and Mindy staring after her.

* * *

After the show had wrapped up and they signed their autographs after the show, Stephanie and Paul headed to their hotel in the city where they were all staying. After Stephanie had taken her shower, she sat down at the desk with her paperwork and computer and began to plan the PPV and look over the angles they were doing. About an hour later, Paul finished his shower and got dressed in a regular t-shirt and jeans. As he was putting his sneakers on he glanced over at Stephanie, who gave no discern to him and hadn't sad one word to him since they left the show. "Steph, why don't you go to bed?" he suggested.

"No," she said simply. "I've got to finish this."

Paul sighed and stood up. "Sometimes I think you're married to your work more than you are to me," he muttered.

Stephanie stopped what she was doing and turned around. "What was that?"

Paul grabbed his wallet and phone and shoved them in his pocket. "Nothing."

Stephanie folded her arms across her chest. "Well, it didn't sound like _nothing_ to me," she said irately. "It sounded like _something_."

Paul sighed again and looked over at his wife, a small grin forming on his lips. "Do you know that this is the first _real_ conversation we've had in months?"

Stephanie scoffed and rolled her eyes, turning her attention back to her work. "You can be so childish sometimes, Hunter, you know that?"

Just as Paul grabbed his keys, he froze. "Did-did you just call me…Hunter?" he asked completely astonished.

Stephanie turned back to her husband. "What?" she asked irritated.

"You just called me Hunter," he said again.

Stephanie shook her head. "No I didn't."

"Uh, yes you did," Paul said. "Why?"

Stephanie sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Paul, it is really late and I have to finish this work…"

Paul raised his palms up. "Fine, I'll drop it. Wouldn't want to stand in the way of your precious _work_," he hissed. Paul shook his head as he opened and slammed the door shut.

Stephanie frowned. _Did I really call him Hunter?_ Stephanie glanced at the clock on the night table that read midnight. She sighed and ran her hand through her hair. She got out of her chair and grabbed her purse and room key. _What the hell, the night is still young and I could use a little pick-me-up.

* * *

_

Stephanie sat at the bar in the hotel lobby drinking her cocktail when she heard a familiar voice. She smiled and without turning around she said, "You really have to get better lines than that, John."

Cena laughed and pointed to the seat next to her. "Is this seat taken?" Stephanie shook her head as she took a sip of her drink. John ordered a beer and turned back to Stephanie. "So, where's the hubby?"

Stephanie shrugged. "I think he, Michael and Randy went out together. Where…I don't know."

John nodded and took his drink. "Never thought I'd see the Billion Dollar Princess sitting in the lobby of a hotel drinking," he quipped.

Stephanie giggled. "There's a lot of things you haven't see me do."

John smiled. "Oh, is that so?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yep, and I could say the same thing about the _Champ_."

John laughed. "Yes, yes you could."

"So tell me, John," Stephanie began. "Where's your girlfriend for the night?"

John took a swig of his drink and looked around. "Not that many good looking girls for the Champ here." Stephanie laughed again and ordered another drink, as well as John, as she began to play around with her wedding ring. John noticed how Stephanie's mood had changed and he moved a little closer to her. "You two are really having problems, aren't you?" he asked softly.

Stephanie nodded slowly and fought back her tears. "I always believed that after Paul proposed to me that our lives would be a fairy tale, you know?" she said, looking at John. "That we'd have the kids, each other…"

John grabbed a napkin from the bar and handed it to Stephanie, who took it and wiped her eyes, while John wrapped his arm around her. "Look, Steph, believe it or not things'll get better."

"I called him Hunter tonight!"

John blinked in confusion. "What?"

Stephanie looked back at John. "I called him by his ring name…by his character. What the hell is wrong with me?"

John laughed and Stephanie shot him a glare. "I'm sorry, but Steph, you're sweating the small stuff. You just gotta roll with life, that's all. That's the secret to living a full and happy life."

Stephanie nodded, taking in his words, and hugged him. "You're a good friend."

"Well, when you're crying on my shoulder, on a three hundred dollar jersey, you kinda have too," he laughed. Stephanie smiled at him and took out her purse to re-apply her makeup. John watched her carefully as she did so.

Stephanie noticed that John was watching her intently and she glanced over at him, blushing. "What?"

John shook his head, snapping out of the daze. "Nothing." Stephanie finished her makeup and drank the rest of her drink when John suddenly grabbed her hand and stood up. "Do you mind if I show you something?"

Stephanie raised her eyebrow but shook her head. "No, not at all."

He smiled and led her away from the bar and up to his room.

* * *

"I just don't know what's wrong with us," Paul whined. "I mean…she called me Hunter up in the hotel room."

Michael shrugged. "So? You guys call me Shawn."

"Yeah, but it's your middle name," Paul protested. "Two different things. Like….Apples and…Jell-O."

Michael shot Randy a look who only glared at Paul. "Alright man, if all you're gonna do is bitch about your marriage, then I'm going back to the hotel to spend time with Sam."

"I'm not bitching," Paul slurred.

"No…you're just drunk."

"I'm _not_ drunk."

Michael shook his head while he stared at Paul. "Nah…I don't think he can get drunk."

Randy shook his head in disgust. "Tonight blows."

"You're just pissed because we're old timers and John didn't want to go," Michael said.

"No, I'm pissed because Paul is acting like a fucking cry baby while Adam, John, and Amy are off having a good time," Randy snapped.

"The sex isn't even good anymore," Paul blurted out.

Randy stood up and threw a fifty on the table as he grabbed his jacket. "Alright, I'm outta here."

"Randy!" Michael called out. But he already left the building. Michael looked at Paul who slammed his head on the table and began to sob. "Alright…maybe you can get drunk." He glanced over Paul, who began to wail loudly, and flagged down the waiter. "Can we get the check?"

* * *

Stephanie entered John's hotel room as he turned on the light and went in the closet. As she looked around, she almost laughed. John's hotel room was near a disaster. He had clothes, towels, CDS, and DVD's scattered all over the room. She placed her purse on the dresser as John walked back in, noticing her smirk. "What?"

"Nothing," Stephanie giggled. "I remember when my hotel room used to look like this."

John smiled at her. "You're kidding?"

Stephanie shook her head and sat on the bed. "No. Paul's a neat freak. I'm only that neat when it comes to my work."

John laughed and sat next to her as he headed her a black jewelry box. "Here."

Stephanie looked at it with wide eyes. "What is it?"

"Just open it."

Stephanie did as he asked and gasped. Inside was a gold chain with a green emerald dangling from it. Stephanie pulled it out carefully and looked at it. "Oh, John…I can't accept this."

He smiled and leaned next to her, turning the amulet that held the emerald around to she could read an inscription it. "It's Italian," he told her. "It means that this jewel will bring you good luck."

Stephanie smiled and hugged John tightly. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

John took the necklace from her. "Here, let's see how it looks." Stephanie pulled her hair back as John leaned over her to put on the necklace. _Hmm, he smells good,_ she thought. John leaned back and gazed at her. "Looks beautiful on you," he whispered.

Stephanie smiled and stood up, looking at her reflection in the mirror, and smiled. It did look good on her. She turned around and gave John another hug. "I don't know how I have friends like you, John," she said softly.

"Yeah, me either," he joked.

Stephanie pulled away and looked at John, getting lost in his blue eyes, as they were only inches away from each other. Almost acting on impulse, she leaned in and kissed him tenderly. John made no objections as he pulled her in further. Stephanie threw him down on the bed and took off her shirt as John threw his off. She quickly unbuckled his belt and leaned in for another kiss. Neither one of them heard as Stephanie's phone began to ring.


	19. Chapter 19

Stephanie opened her eyes and smiled as she felt a sense of warmth around her. She glanced at the clock and stretched her body as she sat up. She frowned as she looked around, not realizing where she was at first, until she glanced at the man that lay beside her. "Oh no," she muttered as she slapped her forehead and grabbed the top sheet, wrapping it around her naked body, and searched for her clothes, which were thrown around room with his. "Shit, shit, shit, shit…"

"What's wrong?" John mumbled with his head still in the pillow.

Stephanie looked up as John sat up and rubbed his eyes. "What's wrong?" she squeaked. She pointed at herself and then at him. "_This_ is what's wrong!"

John raised his palms up. "Just settle down okay?"

"No, John," Stephanie snapped. "It's not okay. I am married!"

John watched her intently as she went back to searching for her clothes. "What're you doing?"

"Looking for my underwear."

John smiled and held up her thong. "You mean…this?" Stephanie glared at him and snatched it from his hand as he started to laugh and slipped on his pants. Despite the frustration and apprehension that she was feeling, Stephanie found herself smiling. John caught her doing so and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her closer to him, and kissed her. "Do you believe in fate, Steph?"

"I don't know," she whispered. She sighed and pushed herself away from him, feeling guilty when he frowned, as his blue eyes flashed in confusion. "I think it's fucked up."

"What?"

"That I thought Paul was cheating and look at what I'm doing." John nodded his head and bent down to pick up his shirt on floor, to some extent, offended. Stephanie watched him carefully as she put on her clothes as well. "I'm sorry, John," she said softly. "But I'm married."

"I know," he replied. "And Paul's my friend. I wouldn't want to do anything to hurt him…or you."

Stephanie flashed him a smile. "I know." She looked down at the floor. "I don't want this to affect our friendship…"

John grabbed her hand and put his hand on her chin, making her look at him. "It won't," he promised.

* * *

Vince glanced at his watch again and looked around impatiently. The meeting that was scheduled to take place was already a half hour behind. Sitting at the table was every superstar from the Raw roster. Vince glanced in Paul's direction, as he was sitting, slumped, in the chair, with is head in his hand and his eyes closed. "Dammit, Paul, where's your wife?" Paul glanced up at Vince and shrugged his shoulders. Vince noticed that his eyes were bloodshot and he had rings under his eyes. He shot a look at Michael, who sat beside him, and then turned back to his employees.

"John's not here either," Randy put in.

"I know," Vince snapped. "She schedules the damn thing and doesn't even show up," he muttered angrily. "Alright, let's just start without them. The ratings went up five percent last night," he told them as he slipped on his glasses. "That leads Raw in an twenty percent increase of fans putting the ratings around 635,295 fans tuning in and 15,672 selling out the arena, leading the show last night as three out of five stars," he read off the paper. He put it down on the table as well as his glasses, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "While Raw still leads Smackdown, as it always has, three out of five stars is unacceptable for the money we're spending in the main events. The feuds need to be more heated and the matches need to be called better. Therefore, at this next PPV I have decided that I will be bringing in a new superstar, or rather, re-signing them."

"Really?" Carlos asked, raising his eyebrows. "Who?"

"You'll see when the fans do," he answered, causing Carlos to frown. "So, I've decided to make the matches for the PPV as follows…"

As he opened his mouth to speak, the door suddenly opened, and Stephanie and John walked in. Vince glared at them both and both offered him sheepish, apologetic, looks, and took their seats. Everyone watched as Stephanie sat down next to Paul and Cena pulled up a chair and sat next to Stephanie…surprisingly close to her. Amy raised her eyebrow as Vince continued. "We'll have Chris and Carlos fight in a submission match; Lisa and Mindy will meet again for the Women's title; John and Ric for the Intercontinental title; DX and Rated RKO for the world tag titles in a steel cage; we'll have Cryme Tyme and the Highlanders go at it; and for the main event we'll end Eddie and Cena's feud for the title; sound good?"

Stephanie looked over at her husband and frowned. Not only did he look like hell, but she didn't like the idea of her husband being in a steel cage. It was too dangerous. All Stephanie did though was smile and nod at her father; after all, she was daddy's little girl and she never disappointed.

* * *

"Where were you last night?" Paul asked as they stepped into her office, getting ready for the house show.

Stephanie closed the door and watched Paul carefully as he slowly sat down and shielded his eyes. Stephanie looked up at the light and turned it down some so it didn't bother him too much. "I did my work elsewhere," she lied. "I couldn't focus." She sat down and moved her chair over to him. Grabbing him by the face, she lifted him up slightly and looked closely at him. "What the hell happened to you?"

Paul smirked at her. "We went to a bar…"

Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Paul, what have I told you about drinking?" He grunted and Stephanie took out her purse from the bottom drawer of the desk. "You can't drink that much in a short period of time."

"I can handle it," he argued.

"You call this handling it?" she scoffed. "Paul, I swear…one day you're gonna hurt yourself."

Paul frowned. "What do you mean?"

She looked at him hardheartedly. "Paul, you could've asked my father for a different match. You know how I feel about those cage matches!"

Paul rolled his eyes and leaned back. "I can take care of myself."

Stephanie folded her arms across her chest and Paul groaned inwardly. He knew that look all too well by now. "How many surgeries have you had?" Paul shrugged and Stephanie sighed as she stood up. She grabbed his hand and dragged him to his feet. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" he whined.

"Back to the hotel," she told him. "You're not wrestling like this. You and Mike can do a promo."

Paul didn't argue; he knew better. Instead he only nodded and followed his wife out to the limo.

* * *

**ONE MONTH LATER**

Trish waited patiently outside Stephanie's office as she watched everyone rushing around and doing their duties. She couldn't talk to Amy because she was busy doing a promo; she couldn't find John or Randy anywhere; she didn't know Mindy very well; and Paul was talking with Vince in his office. Trish sighed and silently wished that she hadn't retired so early. She'd still have that title; not some rookie. Having the boss's daughter as a best friend definitely had it perks though. Trish being backstage and not being employed by them anymore was one of them. The PPV they had last month scored huge ratings and landed Stephanie, Hulk Hogan and Jeff Hardy back on screen. Everyone, Trish included, were so surprised to see Hogan come out and challenge Orton for the 'Legend Killer' gimmick again. Jeff Hardy returned, better than ever, and captured the Intercontinental title from Nitro while Stephanie's character screwed Mindy's character out of her WWE title shot and cost her the lost to Victoria for the Women's title. The feud between the two grew stronger and stronger resulting in the first ever 'Last Woman Standing' match, much to the consternation of Paul.

Everyone was so busy with the show that they didn't even know Trish was there. She sighed in relief as she saw Stephanie quickly walking over to her. Just as she was about to hug her best friend and say hello, Stephanie brushed past her, tapping her lightly on the shoulder, and said, "I need to talk to you," as she rushed in the office. Trish frowned. There was undoubtedly something that was bothering her because Stephanie seemed to be so angry and cold. She walked in the office as Stephanie was looking in one of the file cabinets and pulling out a file. "Close the door," she instructed. Trish did so and folded her arms across her chest as Stephanie sat in her chair and pulled out her cell phone. Trish watched Stephanie conduct her business and said nothing as she finished up. When she hanged up, Trish leaned forward, placing her palms on the desk. "Steph, what the hell is going on?"

Stephanie slammed her head on the desk and Trish frowned as she sat down across from her. "I'm a terrible person," Stephanie muttered.

"What?"

Stephanie lifted her head up. "I said I'm a terrible person."

"Okay," Trish replied. "Why?"

Stephanie looked at Trish closely and sighed. "What I'm about to tell doesn't leave this room, understand?" Trish nodded and Stephanie sighed once more. "I'm pregnant."

Trish covered her mouth with her hands and squealed, "Aw! Steph, that's great!" She then frowned slightly. "Why do I sense deja-vu?" she joked.

Stephanie raised her hand, quieting Trish, and shook her head. "There's more." Trish glanced at her in perplexity. "I don't know if it's Paul's"

Trish blinked a few times before asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well…I've kinda had this thing with John…"

"Cena?" Trish screamed. Stephanie shot her a warning glare but Trish didn't back down. "Stephanie, what the fuck are you doing?"

"I don't know!" she said exasperated. "I don't know what's wrong with me! It's just…Paul and I don't see eye to eye anymore. He doesn't buy me flowers anymore, he doesn't make love to me the way he used to. With John…god…I just feel like myself or even better. John treats me so right…"

"Steph, how long has this affair been going on?" Trish asked, afraid to hear the answer.

Stephanie sighed and looked down. "When it first happened…it wasn't intentional…"

"Steph…"

"About a month," she whispered.

"Jesus…Steph."

"I know, I know!" she cried. "I don't know what to do."

"Well, you have to get tested."

Stephanie looked at her confused. "What?"

"You need to find out whose baby it is," she replied. "How far along are you?"

"Only a few weeks…"

"Well, they have ways of determining the father," Trish stated. "So, you, John and I will go to a clinic and we'll find out the truth. Does John know?"

Stephanie shook her head. "No."

"Then tell him," Trish told her sternly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Trish stood up and hugged Stephanie tightly. "Stephanie, I will never judge you, you know that."

"Yeah, I know," Stephanie sobbed.

"We'll fix this," Trish promised. "Somehow, someway, we'll make it right."


	20. Chapter 20

Trish watched John and Stephanie sitting next to each other, each dealing with their anxiety in very different ways. While Stephanie remained calm on the outside, reading a magazine, Trish had known Stephanie for years and she knew that Stephanie was seconds from ripping out her hair. John on the other hand was visibly nervous, always switching from one magazine to other and constantly moving around, which began to annoy Stephanie. No matter how Trish looked at them, she couldn't picture the two dating, much less having sex. _Ew, nasty image, erase, erase,_ she thought dismally.As Trish frowned from the image, Stephanie turned and glared at John for the hundredth time.

"Will you please sit still." It wasn't a question; it was a demand. John looked at her and sighed, attempting to concentrate on something and sit still. Trish had to give him credit; the kid was trying not to piss Stephanie off. All three of them sat in the waiting room anxiously waiting the results on whose child it was that Stephanie was carrying. But there was one question that was burning in Trish's mind; one that she knew she needed, and wanted, to ask.

"Uh, Steph," Trish said shakily. "Can I ask you a question?" Stephanie looked over her magazine and Trish cleared her throat. "If it's John's…what're you going to do?"

Stephanie slowly closed her magazine and sat it in her lap as she stared at Trish, feeling John look at her fixedly. "I don't know," she answered sincerely. "I've, uh, been tossing around this idea…" She glanced from Trish to John then at her magazine avoiding their stares. "I had my attorney draw up divorce papers…"

Trish's jaw dropped. "You want to divorce Paul?" she asked stunned.

Stephanie threw the magazine back on the cheap coffee table. "It's better that way."

"For who?" Trish demanded.

"For Paul," Stephanie snapped, her eyes flashing in anger and pain. "He doesn't deserve me…not with everything that has happened."

"How can you say that?" John whispered. "You don't divorce the man because you _think_ you know what he wants. You do it if _you're_ not happy."

Stephanie looked at him forlornly. "I feel like out hearts are no longer in our marriage. It died that night of my accident."

John leaned his head back on the wall and swallowed hard. "I never meant for any of this."

Stephanie looked at him warily. "Do you regret it?"

John switched his gaze back at Stephanie, both ignoring Trish's presence even though she was watching them intently, and shook his head. "Hell no. Not a second of it," he replied. "I just don't want to be a burden or put to much pressure on you."

Trish nodded. "All you're doing John is committing career suicide."

He shrugged. "If this kid is mine, then I'll retire and stay by Steph's side," he told Trish.

"And if it isn't?" Trish asked.

He paused and turned back to Stephanie who refused to meet his gaze. "Then the decision is hers," he said quietly.

"Mrs. Levesque?" The three of them looked up at the doctor who stood over of them. Stephanie stood up followed by John and Trish and shook the doctor's hand. "I'm sure you're eager to hear the results," he said.

"Very much," Stephanie said.

"Well, we ran the DNA match for Mr. Cena and…it didn't match."

Stephanie let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding as John slowly sat back down stunned by the news. "Thank you doctor," Stephanie managed.

She too sat down as Trish grabbed her hand and looked at her as Stephanie absorbed the news. "Are you okay, sweetie?"

Stephanie ignored Trish and looked at John. Sensing her stare, he turned around and offered her a pained smile, which she returned. John grabbed her and kissed her softly. As he pulled away, he stared into her eyes. "Remember what I promised?" he asked.

Stephanie nodded as tears ran down her eyes. "That you'll always be by my side…as my friend."

He nodded and kissed her forehead. "Yeah," he whispered.

Stephanie hugged him tightly as tears streamed down her face, soaking his shirt. "I'm _so_ sorry."

John shook his head and rubbed her back. "Don't worry about it." He broke the hug and wiped away some of her tears. "I'm going to get going," he said. "I know you have to share the news with Paul."

Stephanie nodded and watched as John got up and left the clinic. As he left her sight, Stephanie looked at her best friend and hugged her tightly. "It's probably for the better, Stephanie," Trish said.

"I know but why do I feel like I've lost someone I care so deeply about?" she cried.

Trish shook her head. "I don't know." She looked at her best friend closely. "Stephanie…did you want John to be the father?"

Stephanie looked down at her hands and shrugged. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I think so. But…this gives me and Paul a second chance."

Trish nodded and brushed Stephanie's hair from her eyes. "Yeah, it does," she agreed.

* * *

As John entered the gym, where he was suppose to meet Adam and Randy, he threw his bag across the room and kicked one of the exercise balls. Randy watched John as he yelled out and slammed his fist into the mirror on the wall, shattering it. He quickly ran over to John and grabbed him, sitting him down on the bench to calm him, as Adam entered from the bathroom and glanced over at them. Randy grabbed a towel near by and put pressure on John's hand as his blood flowed freely.

"What happened?" Adam asked as he walked up to them.

Randy shook his head and looked at John, who had tears in his eyes, obviously fighting to hold them back. "Dude, what happened?"

"It's not mine," he whispered.

Randy looked at him in confusion. "What's not yours?"

"The baby."

Adam looked at the men in confusion as he sat down next to John. "Whose baby?"

"Stephanie's!" John cried standing up, throwing the towel down, and running his hands threw his hair.

Adam looked at Randy. "Dude, did you know he was fucking Steph?" he whispered to him.

Randy shook his head and stood up, cautiously approaching John. "Steph's been cheating on Paul," he asked. "With you?" John nodded as Randy raised his eyebrows. "How long has this been going on?"

"Not long."

"Did you want the kid?" Adam asked.

John nodded as tears fell from his eyes. He quickly wiped them away. "Steph made me feel so good," he admitted. "It was like…the whole world melted away and it was just the two of us."

"John, she's married," Adam said. "What did you expect to happen?"

John shook his head, feeling his frustration resurfacing. "You don't understand!" he yelled hysterical. "She was going to leave him."

"It's because of the accident, isn't it?" Randy asked. "Their marriage has fallen apart."

John nodded and sank down to the floor. "I wanted it to be mine so much," he sobbed.

Randy glanced at Adam, who only shrugged, as he kneeled down next to his best friend and hugged him as John broke down.

* * *

"Paul?" Stephanie called out as she walked into their house. When she didn't hear an answer, she closed and locked it, leaving her purse and keys on the table as she walked into the house. She found Paul in the kitchen cooking dinner. She watched him for a few minutes until she made her presence known by clearing her throat. He turned around, wearing his cooking apron, and smiled at Stephanie. "Hey, I didn't hear you come in."

Seeing Paul dressed like that, wearing his apron, looking like a housewife, made Stephanie smile. "I noticed."

Paul flashed her another grin and walked over to her giving her a kiss. "So, I made us chicken a la vodka," he said. "Sounds pretty good, huh?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah, it does." She watched as he carried on with his cooking as she thought of how she was going to approach the subject. She didn't know whether or not she should tell Paul of her affair or just of the pregnancy. "Paul…we need to talk."

Paul froze and turned to his wife seeing her tired and pained eyes and sad expression for the first time. He knew that tone in her voice too well and he abruptly knew that something was wrong. He shut off the stove and oven and took off the apron. "Okay. You can tell me anything."

Stephanie laughed; though she wasn't amused. "You won't like it."

Paul frowned as he studied her. "You're scaring me," he admitted. "I don't like seeing you like this."

Stephanie looked at him. "Paul…this time, last month, I was going to divorce you." She watched as all the color drained from his face. "Not for me…but for you. You don't deserve me, Paul. I don't think you ever had."

"Don't say that."

"Why not?" Stephanie scowled. "I didn't trust you. I believed you were having an affair without listening to you or my gut and looked what happened! I murdered my child!"

"That wasn't your fault," he insisted as tears came to his eyes.

"Paul…up until ten hours ago, I had no idea whose child I was carrying."

He frowned and took a step closer. "I-I'm sorry…" he mumbled confused.

Stephanie swallowed hard as she began to cry. "All that time I thought you were cheating…and it was me who betrayed you."

"You-you cheated on me?" he asked in shock. Stephanie bit her lip and nodded. "With who? For how long?"

"It doesn't matter…"

"It does to me!" he yelled.

"Don't you understand Paul!" she yelled back. "We're different! We're not the same people anymore! We grew apart, we never talked, and we never saw each other. You didn't treat me as your wife…and I didn't treat you as me husband."

"So you ran to someone else to get your kicks?" he hissed.

Stephanie looked down and fought back the urge to scream. "I deserve it…whatever you have to say to me, whatever you want to do, I deserve it."

Paul shook his head and leaned back against the counter, both standing in silence for several minutes. "Whose is it?" he finally asked.

Stephanie looked up at him and looked into his pained eyes before she answered, "It's yours."

He walked over to Stephanie and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. "What do you want me to do?" he asked softly. "What should I do?"

Stephanie shook her head as choked back some more tears. "I don't deserved forgiveness," she whimpered.

Paul shook his head. "I was responsible for the accident," he said letting go of her. She looked up at him in confusion. "Steph…you were right."

She took a step back, away from him, and watched him closely. "_I_ was right?"

Paul nodded sadly. "About the affair…you were right to be angry…right to be suspicious."

Stephanie brought her hand up to her mouth, feeling as if she was going to faint. "You _did_ cheat on me."

Paul nodded and moved forward, hugging her tightly, as she cried out openly. "I'm so sorry baby," he whispered. "I'm so sorry. We've just…fallen off the tracks. We got lost." Paul shut his eyes tightly and wept as Stephanie continued to cry. Paul knew that this was the ending to a once promising marriage.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: I normally don't do these, but we are nearing the ending. I wanted to say first, thank you for all the reviews...you keep the chapters and story flowing. Second, I'm not really fond of this chapter (maybe because the timeline is jumping more in the past chapters up to this one) so it'll be really nice to hear your reviews.**

**And third, from reading the first chapter, you all know that something will happen to Stephanie. You also can assume from foreshadowing that something _could_ happen to Paul and after this chapter, possibly Cena** (just, keep reading...trust me.) **I am curious to get your input on what you think will happen to Stephanie. (even Paul and John if you wish) Notice that I haven't said whether Stephanie is dying at the beginning of the story or if she's alive and reflecting. The only thing I can say, is that the reviews will set the ending. Or, my ideas to it.**

**Whether you review or not is up to you...but if you do, you'll control the ending. Big responses and long in-depths reviews goes a very long way for writers like me.**

**Sorry for bambling...and enjoy :-)**

* * *

**EIGHT MONTHS LATER**

Paul stood on the beach as the waves of the water crashed at his feet. He ignored the cold water and looked at his wedding rind; spinning it around on his finger as he looked up and saw the bright orange sky as the sun began to set. He felt someone wrap their arms around his waist and he looked down and smiled at his wife, bringing her in closely and kissing the top of her head as the wind picked up and she watched the sun set. Paul smiled as the faint glow of the sun settled on her features making her appear as an angel. She caught him smiling at her and she blushed. "What?"

Still smiling, he shook his head. "Nothing."

She hit him lightly in his stomach and he laughed out loud, hugging her tightly. They never had a honeymoon before; not with their first marriage. Paul considered himself the luckiest man in the world; he was by far the most fortunate since he and Stephanie were still married. There had been two weddings each within a month from each other. Trish married her high school sweetheart and went back to medical school while appearing on some TV shows whilst Paul and Stephanie renewed their vows after they took a month of separation from each other. Stephanie didn't fire Melina but rather cut a storyline with her to beat her to within an inch of her life. That was Stephanie's payback. Paul never asked who it was that Stephanie cheated on with him and she never told. John made himself scarce for several weeks until Stephanie called him on it. After a long talk, Stephanie hooked John up with one of her high school friends and the two hit it off. Their six month anniversary is coming up. Stephanie's on air personality fought with Mindy's character for several months up until Wrestlemania where the two fought in the first ever 'Woman's Three Stages of Hell' match involving a cage match, first blood and last man standing match where Stephanie came up on the winning end. Despite all of her father's bad ideas and matches, it was a fan favorite and broke every rule in the book, landing Mindy out of action for two months and giving Stephanie her maternity leave while marking her as one of the toughest and dominant females still in the industry to date. Paul ended up injuring himself again in a tag match for the titles against Adam and Randy putting him out of action as well. As much as Stephanie bitched to Paul about injuring himself again, she knew it wasn't intentional or even his fault, and it gave them more time together to repair their relationship.

Their honeymoon was in Barbados and Stephanie was quickly approaching her due date. He led her over to their lounge chairs as the two watched the sun setting. "How's your leg?" she asked.

"It's good," he answered.

Stephanie nodded. "I don't want you to go back so soon."

Paul frowned and looked at her. "Why not?"

"I want to stay with the baby for a few months," she explained. "Without our work getting in the way."

Paul chuckled. "Are you telling me that you're willingly taking time off?"

Stephanie shot him a dirty look. "No. What I am saying is that it's not logical that we take a child with us everywhere we go."

"So, you want me to be the wife while you go off and make the bread?" he laughed.

Stephanie glared at him, not at all amused. "I'm not joking, Paul. I have to go back to work or I swear I'll kill someone."

Paul continued to laugh as he leaned over and kissed her cheek. "You make me laugh."

"Well, I'm so happy that I amuse you," she said sarcastically.

"You know what I mean," he smiled, kissing her more passionately.

After a few moments of silence, Stephanie turned back to her husband. "What should I do?"

"Huh?"

"When you return," she said. "When _I_ return. How should I write us to come back?"

Paul shrugged. "I don't know. It'll come to you."

"You're no help," she pouted.

Paul laughed. "I know."

She folded her arms across her chest and continued to pout. "I'm going to tell my dad on you."

Paul put his hand over his heart and pretended to be hurt. "Oh no…not daddy," he joked.

"I'm pregnant, carrying your child, and you're making fun of me," she whined.

"You're just too cute, Stephy."

She looked down at her belly and frowned. "I'm a cow," she muttered.

"Maybe…but you're _my_ cow."

"You just called me a cow!" Stephanie cried.

"You called yourself one first," he protested.

Stephanie sighed as the sky darkened. "Alright, I have to go finish packing."

"So soon?"

"Paul, we leave at six tomorrow," she told him. "As much as I would to stay here…I want to sleep in my own bed."

* * *

**THE NEXT DAY**

John sighed deeply and dropped his bag, slumping lazily on the bench, and leaning against the locker. Carlos raised his eyebrow and looked at John. "What's eating at you?" he asked.

John slowly looked up at Carlos. "What?"

"I said…what's eating you?" he repeated.

John shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes leaning his head back. Carlos shook his head and muttered, "That's not cool."

Cena mumbled something that Carlos didn't understand and he frowned as Paul, Mike and Randy walked in, deep in conversation. Carlos ignored them and sat next to John, shaking his shoulder. John opened his eyes suddenly, but didn't move. "Hey man, are you alright?" he asked worried. Carlos noticed that John was sweating and panting as if he wasn't able to catch his breath.

"Nah," John gasped. "I don't feel so good."

Paul's laughter was cut off as he noticed Carlos examining John, who seemed to be out of it. He walked over to them and bent in front of John, noticing that he was sweating a lot too. "What's wrong with him?" he asked Carlos.

"I don't know," he said checking John's pulse on his wrist. "But his heart rate is really fast."

Mike walked up to them as well as Paul raised his hand, holding up three fingers. "John, how many fingers am I holding up?"

John attempted to concentrate on Paul's voice, but it seemed so far and distance, and everything was spinning around so quickly, making him dizzy. "Ten," he mumbled. Then he leaned to the side where Mike jumped back as John threw up and began to cough violently.

Paul swallowed hard and looked at Mike. "Go get the medic," and then he turned and pointed at Randy who was looking on. "And you go get Stephanie."

Both men nodded and ran out of the locker room, shoving people aside.

* * *

Trish bounced her small ball on the wall and caught it as she was speaking to Stephanie, who sat at her desk with her hand supporting her head as she attempted to tune out Trish's rambling. "And then, Ron goes, 'well I prefer the green color more than I do the blue'," she mocked as she threw the ball at the wall and caught it again. "I mean…green so does _not_ match the furniture!" she exclaimed, throwing the ball harder and catching it again. "Why does he have to be such a man?" She threw the ball again. "Oh! And then yesterday, he orders Chinese, without asking me!" She threw it and caught it again. "What if I wanted Mexican? Or Italian?" Trish complained. She threw the ball again, harder this time, and missed it as it hit the lamp on Stephanie's desk and fell to the floor. Stephanie sat up quickly and looked around as she jolted awake. Trish covered her mouth with her hands. "Sorry." 

Stephanie realized what happened and calmed down, slouching in the chair a little more. "Don't worry about it."

Trish shrugged and sat across from Stephanie. "So, what do you think?"

Stephanie looked at her like a deer caught in the headlights. She quickly tried to rack her brain of anything that Trish had been rambling about, but came up short. "Uh, about what?"

Trish's jaw dropped. "You weren't even listening?!?"

Stephanie shrugged. "Sorry."

Trish frowned and looked at the fallen lamp. "Suddenly, I don't feel so guilty about your lamp anymore," she grumbled.

Stephanie shot her a dirty look as her office door swung open and Randy rushed in, slightly out of breath. "Steph, you gotta come, quick."

Stephanie shot to her feet quickly, well, as quickly as a pregnant woman could, and looked at Randy alarmed. "What happened?"

* * *

Randy, Trish and Stephanie rushed into the locker room as they saw the medics working on John. "What happened?" Stephanie demanded, rushing to John's side. 

Paul looked at Stephanie. "They don't know yet," he said quietly.

Stephanie looked at John, unconscious, sweating, and shaking and she began to panic. "What do you mean they don't know?" she yelled.

"Steph," Mike said, grabbing her shoulder and attempting to calm her down. "John came here like this. They think it could be drugs."

Stephanie immediately shook her head. "He doesn't do drugs."

Paul raised his eyebrows. "How can you be so sure?"

Stephanie looked at her husband and could hear the antagonism and jealously in his voice. "Because I know my employees," she snapped.

Paul's face fell and Stephanie could tell that he bought her excuse. "We have to take him to hospital," one of the trainers said.

"Will he be alright?" Randy asked.

"I'm not sure," he answered. "We have to run some tests and pump out the toxins in his body."

Stephanie nodded and clasped her hands together as tears stung her eyes. "Someone should go with him," she said quickly.

They all looked at each other until Randy grabbed his things. "I will."

Stephanie mouthed a thank you and Randy followed the medics and trainers out. She looked at Carlos, Trish and Mike who both looked concerned, and Paul, who looked concerned, as well cautious and angry. "I have to go and change the script before we go live," she muttered.

All four of them watched Stephanie leave the locker room as Paul placed his hands on his hips. "Is it just me and is there something that Stephanie isn't telling me?"

Mike and Carlos said nothing, but each felt the tension in the room as Trish shook her head in disgust and whirled around on Paul. "You know, you can be such a jackass sometimes," she snapped as she turned and stormed out of the room.

Paul looked after her in shock as Carlos shook his head. "Man, what's with women?" he asked, causing Mike to look at him oddly. "That," Carlos added. "That's not cool."


	22. Chapter 22

Stephanie paced back and forth nervously as Paul, Randy and Trish sat down watching her walk back and forth. Paul wasn't entirely sure, but he had a feeling that Stephanie wasn't telling him something, and he'd be damned if he let her keep secrets from him. John was his friend and even though Stephanie gave the man a push in the industry while everyone else laughed at them, he respected John's commitment to the business and his friendship with Stephanie. He just hoped that they were _only_ friends and nothing more.

"Steph, can you please stop pacing?" Randy asked. "You're making me dizzy."

Stephanie stopped and offered Randy an humiliated look before sitting down next to her husband. "What do you think happened?" she asked.

Paul shrugged. "The docs said it was drugs…"

Stephanie shot Paul a dirty look. "I told you, he doesn't do drugs."

Paul rolled his eyes as Trish spoke up. "Maybe he was drugged or something?"

Randy nodded. "Yeah, he was hanging out at a lot of bars lately," he added. "Someone probably spiked his drink."

"What's going on?" said a new voice. The trio looked up to see Adam and Amy, slightly disheveled and flushed. "We came here the second we heard."

"Someone drugged Cena," Paul answered as Stephanie's cell phone rang.

She looked at the caller ID and flipped it open. "Hi Daddy. Yes…we're all at the hospital. Of course we need to be!" she replied angrily before pausing again. "The show can wait…okay, yes fine." Stephanie put the phone down, covering the receiver with her hand as she stood up and looked at Paul. "I have to take care of this. Come get me if anything happens."

Paul nodded as Stephanie walked down the hall and out of sight. Once she was, he leaned forward and looked directly at Trish. "Tell me what's going on."

"What?" she asked confused.

"I know that something happened, or is happening, between John and Stephanie," he said softly. "So spill."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she scoffed.

Paul caught the look that Randy shot Adam and Amy and he stood up. "Alright, all four of you know something!"

"No we don't," Adam said self-consciously.

"Bullshit! Look, I know Stephanie had an affair…" he looked at each of them and sighed. "It was Cena, wasn't it?" When no one answered, he snickered, and sat back down as they watched him sympathetically.

"We're sorry, Paul," Trish said. "But we didn't want to meddle in your affairs."

Paul bit his lip. "Believe it or not…I'm not angry."

Randy frowned. "You're not?"

Paul shook his head. "I think that subconsciously, I always knew." He shrugged, "In some ways, it's a relief."

Adam patted his shoulder. "Look man, we'll always be here for you and Steph. I know for a fact that John wanted to tell you so you could beat the shit out of him…"

"But Stephanie knew it wouldn't solve anything," Amy finished.

"Is it my baby?" Paul asked bluntly. He turned to Trish. "I know you went with her. Honestly…is it mine."

Trish flashed him a small smile and nodded. "Of course it is."

* * *

Stephanie closed her phone and let out a frustrated breath. _He can be such a pain in the ass! _She ran her hand through her hair and began to walk back down the hallway. She stopped in front of John's room and peeked in through the window. She saw that he was awake and she walked in quietly. John saw her and smiled as she took a seat next to him. "Hey," he whispered.

"Hey," she smiled at him. "So, your parents and brother are coming down to see you."

"You called them?" Stephanie nodded. "Thanks."

"How are you?"

"Great," he chuckled. "I'm ready for my match."

She giggled and then looked at him firmly. "What'd the doctors say?"

"That I was poisoned," he answered.

"Yeah, we got that much."

"Yeah, well, he said its fine now. Nothing to worry about."

"You had us scared."

He flashed her a smile. "Sorry 'bout that."

She nodded and bit her lip. "Just don't do it again."

"Well, now we're even." He laughed and began to close his eyes. After a few moments of silence, he spoke up again. "What if it was mine?"

Stephanie blinked a few times. "What?"

John turned and looked at her. "What if the baby was mine?"

"It's _not_ though, John."

"I know," he replied. "But I can't lie and tell you that I didn't want it or that I didn't want to be with you."

Stephanie sighed and looked down. "I guess this conversation was a long time coming," she muttered.

"I know I told you I was fine and I didn't care," John told her. "But I did. The time we spent together I'd never forget."

"I won't either but I'm married to _Paul_," she said quietly. "And I love him. I do."

"He cheated on you."

"And I did to him so how does that make me better?" she demanded. "Look," she said attempting to calm herself. "I'm not going to say that I don't care about you, because I do, but I'm not going to satisfy whatever fantasy you're living in and leave Paul to come running to you."

John nodded taking in her words and pushing aside the hurt he was feeling by them. "I just wanted to let you know," he whispered.

"Why, John?" she asked. "Are you trying to hurt me? Or are you trying to convince yourself of something?"

"No," he said shaking his head. "I want things back the way they were."

"They never will be."

"They can if we agree to disagree," he protested.

Stephanie sighed and stood up, grabbing John's hand, being careful with the IV's they hand in his arm and hand. "In any other world, John…yes, I do think that you and I could've worked. When Paul wasn't there for me, _you_ were. And I will forever be grateful for that. But in this reality, you and I just cannot work. I _love_ Paul and I'm carrying _his_ child. You and I are friends and I'm afraid I can only be that," she said honestly.

John smiled. "As long as we both know where we stand…being friends is that I'll ask."

Stephanie kissed his hand and smiled. "Then we'll start over."

John nodded and held out his hand to her. "The name's Cena...John Cena," he said putting on his James Bond act.

Stephanie giggled and shook his hand. "Stephanie Levesque."

"Oh…you look familiar," he said. "You're that bitch on TV, aren't you?"

Stephanie laughed and playfully hit him on the shoulder as he chuckled.

* * *

After their visit to John in the hospital, Stephanie and Paul headed home to their mansion. As they were preparing for bed, Stephanie couldn't help but feel relieved that she and John had cleared up the tension that was around them. Stephanie would admit that she had been attracted to John for some time, but he was her friend and she knew that was a line she would never cross. Stephanie didn't know exactly what tempted her to cross that line because she was the one that seduced John; not the other way around. She squirted some lotion on her hand and applied it as Paul came out of the bathroom in his boxers and took off his watch. Stephanie looked at him and noticed that he was very tense. She didn't need to guess why. "So, the doctors said that John will able to compete on Raw next week," she said attempting to make conversation.

"I heard," was all Paul said as he pulled back the sheets and blanket on the bed. Stephanie sighed and took her spot on the bed as Paul did the same.

"What's bothering you?" she asked.

"Nothing."

"Paul," she warned, burning a hole threw him.

"You know what's bothering me," he snapped, turning off the light.

"It's John, isn't it?" she said, turning the light back on. Paul growled and sat up, returning Stephanie's glare. But it didn't seem to faze her. "So I guess its right to assume that you know about us?"

Paul held her gaze for a second and saw the pain that reflected in her eyes. He sighed, giving in to her resolve, and nodded his head. "Yeah…I know now."

"So how does that change anything?"

"Because he's my friend." Stephanie nodded and bit her lip as Paul continued. "Think about it this way, wouldn't it tear you up inside if you knew that Trish and I slept together?"

Stephanie thought about it for a second and nodded, understanding Paul's point. If Trish had ever slept with Paul while she was with him, friend or not, Stephanie would tear Trish apart. She pushed the thought aside and nodded. "Yeah," she whispered. "But, I don't think that view would change anything," she added. "Cheating is cheating no matter who it's with. We both screwed up, Paul but we also worked through it these past six months. I don't want the past to come clawing its way to the surface because you think John and I still feelings for each other." Paul watched Stephanie closely as she continued, feeling his anger slowly fade away. "Look," she said, grabbing his hands and squeezing them. "I didn't fire Melina," she pointed out. "I didn't fire her because you _asked_ me not to. I beat the shit out of her and I'll put John in a match with you if you want, but he is still my friend and if you're looking for me to fire him, I won't."

Paul nodded. "I don't want that," he said softly.

"Good, because I don't either. John and I are only friends. Whatever it was we had is gone," she said. "We've been given a second chance here, Paul and I don't want to screw it up."

Paul smiled at her. "We haven't thought of any names."

Stephanie smiled back at him and kissed him softly. "I don't want to rush it."

Paul nodded and looked deeply into her eyes as if he was reading her soul. "I love you Steph."

Stephanie blushed and smiled at Paul kissing him. When it ended and rested her forehead against his and sighed. "Life really does like to pick on us, doesn't it?" she joked. Paul laughed and brushed her hair behind her ear as she looked at him. "I love you too. So much."

"You better," he joked, still smiling at his wife.


	23. Chapter 23

**Approx 2 Chapters to go... hang in there**

* * *

It was a sunny and breezy afternoon in L.A. as Trish, Amy, Stephanie and Mindy were having lunch together before the show. Trish's mother-in-law lived down in the California area so she thought it'd be prefect to tag alone with Amy and a very pregnant Stephanie as Raw hit the 90210 area in the state. As Stephanie and the others were laughing, Mindy was talking on her cell phone, deep in her own conversation.

Trish glanced over at Mindy then turned back to Stephanie after taking a sip of her iced tea as she felt the breeze go threw her from eating lunch outside. "You know, Steph, I have to be real honest. You did a good job hiring Mindy."

Stephanie glanced at Mindy as well. "You think so?"

Trish nodded immediately. "Your feud with her was the best. Almost better than mine…"

"Which feud?" Amy snorted. "The one with the 'lesbian' Mickie or the one where you barked like a dog and got mud poured on you?"

Trish frowned and shot daggers at Amy. "I can't go one year without you mentioning that, can I?"

Amy and Stephanie broke out laughing at Trish continued to glare at Amy. "I'm sorry," Amy said in between giggles. "But mud? I'd never agree to that."

"For your information," Trish fumed. "That won the best feud of year award and put me on the map."

Stephanie thought for a few seconds and shook her head. "No it didn't."

"Yes, it did."

"No…it didn't."

"Well, I was in it!" Trish exclaimed. "So it _should've!"_

Stephanie stopped giggled and nodded seriously. "She's right," she told Amy. "Trish _is_ a seven time woman champion."

Amy stopped laughing as well as Trish smiled, taking another sip of her drink, as Mindy sat back down with a big grin on her face. "What's the deal?" Amy asked.

"They want me in a TV series!" Mindy said proudly. "A reality show!"

"Why?" Stephanie asked bluntly. Mindy's smile disappeared and she looked at her boss confused while Trish kicked Stephanie lightly under the table. Stephanie glared at her but Trish ignored her.

"_Why_?" Mindy repeated. "Because…I'm a two time woman's champion, a future WWE champion. I'm a woman that has been in a first blood match, and iron man match and a three stages of hell match…"

"Which you lost," Stephanie muttered somewhat proudly.

"…I'm the future of the business," Mindy continued ignoring Stephanie's comment. "They said I'd be the first woman to do something this big."

"Who said?" Trish asked.

"My agent."

"Uh-huh," Trish muttered shooting Stephanie a look while Amy snickered.

"What?" Mindy asked, looking at the trio confused.

"You're _not_ the first woman," Stephanie told her. Mindy continued to look at them confused. Stephanie sighed and pointed to Trish. "Trish just signed a contract with CBS for a reality show."

"What?"

Trish nodded as Amy spoke up. "Yeah, plus we'd had Joanie Laurer on a reality show."

Mindy shook her head in disbelief. "Dammit!" she yelled as she stood up and flipped opened her phone, hitting redial and stomping away from the table as she yelled into the phone.

The trio watched in amusement as Stephanie glanced at her watch and sighed. "Oh, I have to head back to the hotel," she told her friends.

"You know, every time I tell my parents or my friends outside the business…" Amy began.

"You have other friends than us?" Trish snickered.

As Stephanie giggled, Amy shot Trish a look and continued. "We're one of the top celebrity's and when we say hotel, everyone thinks we mean like a Days Inn or something."

Stephanie shook her head and laughed in amusement. "I'm a _McMahon_," she said cockily. "Trust me when I tell you that _no one_ will _ever_ make that mistake."

Amy and Trish watched as Stephanie got up and left the table. "Must be nice," Amy muttered.

Mindy walked back to the table and turned to see Stephanie walking away. "Where's she going?"

"Back to the hotel," Trish answered. "Which is _not_ a Days Inn." Mindy raised an eyebrow as she grabbed her purse.

"Where are you going?" Amy asked.

"To my hotel…which _is_ a Days Inn," Mindy answered.

Trish watched Mindy walk away as well when she turned to Amy with wide eyes. "Is she serious?"

Amy raised her eyebrows and laughed as she shook her head. "You really _are_ a blonde."

* * *

Shane looked over the scripts and up at his father. He wasn't very happy that he had been called into a meeting with his family but he also knew with Stephanie out on maternity leave that her job, whatever she didn't get to, fell upon him. "Did you run these through with Stephanie?"

Vince looked up at his son, from looking down over his wife's shoulder at the ratings and schedules, through his glasses. "Run _what_ through her?"

Shane held up the papers. "These.

Vince looked at the papers than at his son. "Unless you expect me to be Superman's great grandfather, I can't tell what _those_ are."

Shane rolled his eyes and threw the papers on the desk. "The script."

Vince stood up straighter and folded his arms across his chest. "Uh-huh. What about it?"

Shane pointed at them. "You changed everything."

"Well, how do you know that your sister didn't?" Vince challenged.

"Because I know Stephanie," Shane answered. "And that is very un-Stephanie-like."

"Shane, Stephanie is technically out of work," Linda said as Vince snickered. "We don't need her permission for things around here."

"She's the head of the creative team," Shane reminded them. "She was hired to do a job, and she's doing it. To be one up-ed by her parents will create drama. You know that."

Vince nodded. "Stephanie is stubborn and you're an arrogant ass."

Shane raised his palms up. "Whoa! _I'm_ an arrogant ass?"

"Did I stutter?"

"How am I an arrogant ass?"

Vince shrugged. "First born probably."

"Wha- Mom! Do you hear the way he's talking to me?"

Linda sighed and went back to her work. "Go settle it in the ring."

Shane huffed and snatched the scripts from the desk and stomped out of the room just as Steve was about to knock. "Get outta my way," Shane snapped pushing Steve aside.

Steve watched Shane leave as he walked in the office. "What the hell was that about?"

"Nothing, Steve," Linda said.

"I see. You want me to open a can of whoop ass on 'em?"

* * *

John and Adam turned as the locker room door opened and Michael and Paul walked in. "Hey guys," Michael greeted.

"Hey," they both said.

Paul nodded over at John. "You ready tonight?"

John nodded and flashed Paul a smile. "Yeah. I was getting stir crazy."

Paul smiled and nodded as he threw his bag in the locker. "Yeah, Steph gets like that."

"Is she here tonight?" Adam asked.

"Nope," he answered. "We came to an agreement. She could do her work if she stays at the hotel or she doesn't do it at all."

"She actually agreed to those terms?" Mike chuckled.

Paul laughed. "Yeah, although she didn't have that much of a choice. I'll tell ya man, hormones can be a real bitch."

"Don't I know it?" Mike joked.

"Please," Adam put in. "Hormones _and_ the McMahon temper? I'd choose being eaten by sharks piece by piece any day."

He and John laughed and high fived each other as Paul only chuckled and shook his head, opening the locker room door. "You two are lucky Stephanie's not here to hear you two bullshit around or she _would've _fed you to the sharks."

Both men stopped laughing and Adam frowned as Shawn laughed, following Paul out, and added, "Yeah…and _piece_ by _piece_."

* * *

Stephanie closed her laptop and sighed in content. She had just gotten all her work done for this week and the next three weeks; unless an emergency came up. She sighed and took the clip out of her hair and went into the bathroom to wash her face as she suddenly began to think about how screwed Wrestlemania was now that her husband was out of the action. They'd be no way any doctor in the country would clear Paul within that time; Stephanie and her brother had gone through so many lengths and pulled so many strings to produce Wrestlemania and have John, Dave, Mark, and Paul and Michael as DX, head it. "What's that's all screwed now," Stephanie muttered.

She had to replace the tag match event; which was a huge deal because of the rivalry and time that was put into it. Stephanie learned very early in the business that eighty percent of the heated feuds work the best when you're friends with the people involved in it. The other twenty are good to watch and write because the feud is happening, or at least present, in reality. Like Mindy for example; as good as the diva is, or could be, there was something about her that didn't sit well with Stephanie. _Oh well, I'll address that when I return_, she thought.

Stephanie grunted and on instinct placed her hand over her belly. She sighed and breathed in deeply as the pain suddenly disappeared. She looked around in confusion. _Okay, maybe it was just a kick_. She rolled her eyes. _Oh god, I'm going to be a soccer mom. Trish and Amy are going to make fun of me so much after this baby is born_. She grimaced again and held onto the bathroom counter to support herself and keep from falling. She gritted her teeth as she realized the pain wasn't going away; then she began to panic. Stephanie fought through the pain and walked into the main room and grabbed the phone from the receiver. She turned it on and groaned again. As she bent down, her hand still on her belly, she noticed the carpet was soaked beneath her. She touched down with her left hand and when she brought it back up, she began to tremble and sweat; her hand was covered in blood. Then she began to sway as the colors of the room began to blend in together as the shapes became blurs. She dropped the phone in her right hand as she felt herself falling. She heard, rather than felt, her skull hit the end table. As she fell to the floor, she saw the blood, and then blacked out hearing the distance sound of a ring tone until…nothing.


	24. Chapter 24

There wasn't much of anything but dread going through Paul's head at the moment. When you got a call saying that your wife was in critical condition and went into premature labor…thinking straight and logically were out of the question. What Paul did know though was that if a doctor didn't come here soon and explain what was going on, injured or not, he'll kill someone. He was grateful of his friends and Stephanie's family though; his parents were flying in at the news but they wouldn't be here until tomorrow. John, Amy, Trish, Michael, Shane, Vince, Adam, Randy, and Linda were all waiting in the waiting room with Paul. No one had said a word. Not to each other, not to Paul, no one. While Paul kept pacing, much like Stephanie had, John sat in the corner with his arms crossed and an unreadable expression masked on his face. Randy was holding Trish's hand and supporting her while Adam had his arm around Amy's shoulder as she kept her eyes on the floor of the room. Shane and Mike both kept their gaze on the front desk, probably waiting for the doctor to come and speak to them at any second, and Vince was hugging Linda, who was crying softly. The tension was building up in Paul and he was beginning to get impatient and angry very quickly. The only sounds in the room were the nurses shuffling around and Linda's weeping. Paul was a man known for his patience…but it was quickly thinning. _How can this be happening?_ he thought angrily. _Why did I leave her alone? I shouldn't have left her alone. If I had stayed with her, then she'd be fine; the baby would be fine. Dammit!_ Paul lifted his leg up and hit the cheap coffee table in the middle of the room, knocking it over and shattering the legs of the table, as the magazines that were lying on top of it flew around the room. No one moved; they didn't even flinch.

John and Amy both looked up at Paul, who began to pant and brushed his hair back with his hand as one of the nurses walked over. "Is there a problem here?"

"I want to go see my wife," Paul growled.

"What's your wife's name?"

"Levesque, Stephanie Levesque."

"Are you the husband?" a man asked.

Paul turned to see the doctor standing in front of him. Paul nodded and folded his arms as everyone stood up behind Paul. "Yes I am," he said.

Paul tried to ignore the fact that the doctor has blood all over him. "I'm Dr. Rogers; I've been working on your wife."

"What happened?" Linda asked frightfully. "Is she alright? Is her child alright?"

Rogers sighed. "For now…they're both stable."

"What do you mean _for_ _now_?" Paul demanded.

"The baby is fine. She'll make it."

Trish's eyes lit up. "She had a little girl?"

The doctor nodded and flashed them a smile when he noticed that Paul relaxed from the news. "Yes, and she's healthy."

"And Stephanie?" Vince asked hopeful.

The doctor frowned. "Mrs. Levesque went into DIC," he explained. "DIC is when your body's clots began to clot throughout the body instead of one localized area."

"So what does that mean?" Randy asked.

"What that means is she suffered an obstetrical complication," he told them. "Stephanie is bleeding internally and we can't stop it. She suffered a stroke after the delivery which only complicted things."

"You can fix it though, right?" Paul asked.

Rogers shook his head. "She's bleeding too much and too fast," he said softly. "Even if we could, the tissue is infected and is beyond repair." He looked at each one of them sadly. "I'm sorry. If you have anything you'd like to say to her, only two people can go in at a time."

Paul grabbed the doctor by his coat before he could leave. "Listen to me you little shit, you better go back in there and save my wife or so help me I'll fucking throw your lifeless body in the ocean…"

"Paul!" Mike yelled. He grabbed him by the shoulder and ducked just in time as Paul swung at him. John and Randy quickly grabbed Paul and hauled him to the ground as Paul continued to yell and fight against them.

"Knock it off Paul!" Randy shouted.

"Get a grip man," John shouted at him. "Is this what Stephanie would expect from you?"

John's words made Paul settle down as tears flowed down his face. "Paul," Mike said. "You're a Dad now."

"I can't," Paul said standing up and wiping his face. "I can't do this. Not without Steph."

"You'll always have Steph," John said. He looked around at everyone and added, "We all will."

* * *

Adam and Amy stepped into the room and saw Stephanie laying on the hospital bed with several machines hooked up to her. As they slowly made their way over to her, Amy realized that they had moved her in a different room because the floor wasn't covered in her blood. Stephanie was wrapped in several blankets and she was pale. Amy felt the urge to break down right there and curse Stephanie for the mess she was in.

"Hey," she whispered.

Stephanie opened her eyes and smiled at her friends. "Hey," she croaked out.

"You comfortable?" Adam asked.

Stephanie nodded slowly. "Just…a little…cold."

Amy shot Adam a look and wiped away her tears when she turned back to Stephanie. "So, you had a little girl," she said. "Just what we need…another Stephanie around here."

Stephanie chuckled and grabbed Amy's hand, squeezing it as tightly as she could. "Thank you," she whispered.

"For what?"

"For…being my friend."

This time, Amy couldn't stop her tears. "Steph…"

"I know…I won't make it," Stephanie said softly. "Now that I think about it…I cheated death once already."

"Aw, don't say that," Adam said forlornly. "You're a McMahon."

Stephanie smiled. "I love you guys."

Amy cried even harder and bent down to hug Stephanie as Adam watched, his heart breaking for the two women.

* * *

After Adam and Amy left, Shane and Michael stepped in the room. "Hey there, princess," Michael greeted her.

"Hey," she said smiling at them. "How's the show?"

Shane chuckled. "You're worried about work? At a time like this?"

Stephanie giggled. "When's a McMahon always a McMahon?"

Mike laughed. "Ain't that the truth?"

Shane grabbed his sister's hand and knelt down so they were at eye contact. "I just want you to know, Steph that you're the biggest bitch and pain in the ass I've ever met…much less grew up with."

Stephanie smiled at her brother. "Glad to know I made a difference."

Tears filled Shane's eyes as he nodded. "Yeah. You were always there for me Steph. Always. You never judged me; you always gave me the kick in the ass if I needed it. You always listened to me and helped me out."

Stephanie reached out and stroked his hair as Shane cried and buried his head in her arm. "God, if Dad'll see you now, I'd die happy."

Shane laughed as Michael came over and hugged Stephanie. "Despite the fact that you and I didn't always see eye to eye…you're one of the best people I know Stephanie. You're the world to Paul."

"Thanks Mike."

He reached in his pocket and pulled out a cross. "Here," he said handing it to her.

"I can't take this."

"Sure you can, and you will," he insisted. "That helped me throughout my life when things were going down the drain…but it brought me happiness, friends like you and Paul."

"Thank you."

* * *

Trish squeezed Randy's hand tighter as they walked into the room after an emotional Shane and Michael stepped out. The sight of seeing her best friend laying the hospital on her death bed terrified Trish. As she stepped over to Stephanie's bedside, she saw her eyes closed, and thought she was too late. She looked up at Randy as tears filled her eyes. "Don't worry," he said pointing at the monitor.

Stephanie breathed in and opened her eyes, seeing Trish and Randy stand over her. "Oh, hey…"

Trish lightly hit Stephanie. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" she scolded.

Stephanie laughed and Randy smiled. "Sorry," Stephanie whispered. "Hey, I'm sorry I didn't get to see your last match."

"Steph, don't think about that now."

Stephanie nodded. "Can I ask you a question?"

Trish nodded. "Sure honey."

"Will you be my child's godmother?"

Trish looked at Randy then back at Stephanie. "Of course I will," she said as she hugged her. "I will be honored to Stephanie."

Stephanie turned to Randy and grabbed his hand. "You have to promise me something, Orton. You need to watch out for them…take care of my family and friends."

Randy nodded. "I will."

"I'm serious," Stephanie said. "No more drugs, no more one night stands…take care of them. Take care of Paul."

Randy watched Stephanie closely and nodded his head, fighting back tears of his own. "I will Stephanie. I promise."

* * *

Linda grabbed her daughters hand and cried freely as she kissed her hand and Vince rubbed his wife's back and watched as Stephanie smiled weakly. "I don't understand this," Linda whispered. "You're my baby girl," she sobbed.

Stephanie nodded as tears flowed down her cheeks. "I don't understand either," she whispered.

"What're we going to do?" Vince asked. "The brands run as smoothly as they do because of you."

Stephanie chuckled. "I don't know. You'll have to make do."

"Don't talk like that," Linda said. "You'll make it through this, Stephanie. You're a McMahon. We're survivors."

Stephanie shook her head sadly. "Not of this mamma," she said sadly. Linda cried and hugged her daughter tightly as Vince's eyes watered. _"Not of this…"

* * *

_

John watched in silence as Vince was practically pushing Linda out of the room. Linda was wailing and screaming for Vince to let her go but he only shook his head and whispered something in her ear which made her cry even louder and sink to the ground, an emotional basket case. John looked at Paul, and when the former gave him no attention, he stood up and walked into the room, shutting the door behind him. John slowly walked over to Stephanie to see her staring into space. His throat suddenly became dry and hurt like hell when he saw how lifeless and glassy her eyes were. "Steph?"

She slowly turned to him but didn't say anything. For a second, he thought that she had lost her memory from the gash on her head, but a lazy smile appeared on her face. "Hey John."

He smiled weakly at her and grabbed her hand, kissing it, and rubbed her forehead. "How are you doing? Under the circumstances?"

She chuckled slightly. "I'm okay." Then she frowned and looked back up at the ceiling. "But mom…"

John swallowed hard. "I know," he whispered.

Stephanie looked back up at him. "Will you do me a favor?" John nodded. "My girl…will you be her godfather?"

John pointed at his chest. "Me?" Stephanie nodded. "Steph… I don't know…"

"Please?"

He bent down and saw the pleading look in her eyes. "Of course."

"Thank you," she said smiling.

John stood up and kissed her softly. When he pulled away, he was only a few inches from her face. "I was serious, Steph. When I said that I loved you…"

Stephanie gazed up in his blue eyes. "I believe you," she said softly.

John nodded. "Good."

"I'm so weak," she whispered.

"I'll get your doctor…"

Before he could walk away, she grabbed his arm. "No…I want you to stay with me."

John swallowed hard again and nodded. She moved over a little, as much as possible, and John pulled the bar down on the bed and laid down next to her, hugging her protectively, as Stephanie laid her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat.


	25. Chapter 25

**NONE of this is real or has happened...it is only fiction!**

* * *

_Am I dead? _

It was the question that was rolling around in Stephanie's head. It was a question that she wasn't sure if she could answer or not. She sure felt like she was dying, but she felt that way after her accident, so how was this any different? She saw everything; her whole life and everyone that was a part of it. Trish, her best friend; John, her rock, her support; Amy, her goofy friend; Adam, the peacemaker of the group; Randy, the party boy; Michael, the foundation of the group; Shane, the most honest human begin and best brother she could ever have; Her mother, the one person she trusted and loved the most; Her father, if there ever were words to describe him, Stephanie had none. Her father was the must unique person she knew. So many times he would piss her off, then others she was simply his 'little princess'. And Paul; her husband, her lover, and her life. She couldn't imagine leaving him to care for a child, to continue his life without her. She knew it was selfish, but she didn't care. She wanted to stay, she didn't want to leave. Not now; not ever.

Paul stood outside Stephanie's door and waited as John came out. He took a glance at John's defeated expression. Paul never knew this side of Cena; it was the vulnerable side, the heartrending side. He always knew John as a optimistic person, someone who could walk into a room and turn the attention onto him. Someone that always had a smile on his face and was always cracking jokes. Not _this_ John. This John was tired, he was having an emotional breakdown and he was letting his guilt and dread eat him up.

John locked gazes with Paul and then walked away. Paul watched him walk down the hall and punch the wall. Paul opened the door and walked in the room seeing Stephanie look up slightly and smile at him.

"Hey," she whispered.

Paul smiled and kissed her forehead. "Hey beautiful. How're they treating you?"

"Like a princess."

"Good," Paul said as he pulled over a chair and sat next to his wife. He grabbed her hand and kissed it then rubbed her hair absently. "We have a baby girl."

Stephanie grinned. "So I heard."

Paul watched Stephanie and took note of how weak she sounded and looked. It seemed like she was fighting just to stay awake and it burned a hole inside of Paul. "We need a name," he said softly.

"I…thought of one," she said slowly.

"Oh yeah?"

Stephanie nodded. "Yeah. How about…Aurora?"

Paul smiled at Stephanie. "I think that's perfect, Steph."

"Aurora…Rose…Levesque."

"Fitting for a princess," Paul smirked.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes as the heart monitor continued to beep, only much slowly then before. Paul noticed how Stephanie was gazing up, towards the ceiling, and how glazy her eyes were. He hoped it was the pain killers that were doing that to her and nothing else.

"Paul?"

He looked up at her as she was now staring at him and squeezed her hand smiling at her. "Yeah?"

"Will you forgive me?" she asked sorrowfully.

Paul frowned. "What for?"

"For everything." Paul watched as tears fell onto Stephanie's cheeks. "For being a bitch…for…cheating on you…for never believing in you enough…not listening…"

"Steph…are you kidding me?" he asked in disbelief. "You have been my rock through all these years. It's like…when we first met, it was just a storyline. We were just pretending to be in love. Working with you through those years it made me realize that I didn't want to let you go. I wanted to know you even more. I wanted to show you off to everyone. It has nothing to do with money, or power, or our jobs. It had everything to do with you and nothing to do with me. I love you _so much_ Stephanie that…words can't even describe it."

Stephanie smiled weakly and touched his cheek. "I think they just did."

Paul chuckled. "Yeah well, we all know how I can be with words," he joked.

Stephanie giggled. "My big teddy bear."

Paul laughed. "I'm being compared to a stuffed animal now?"

"Yeah…but you're _my_ teddy bear…and no one else's."

Paul leaned in and kissed Stephanie. "I'll always be yours Stephanie. _Forever_."

Stephanie looked deep into his eyes. "Paul…I don't want you to stop living your life for me. It's not fair."

Paul shook his head. "No…_this_ isn't fair Stephanie. You don't deserve this. We don't deserve this."

Stephanie shrugged. "These things happen. I'm not immune to them, Paul."

Stephanie wiped the tears that fell from Paul's eyes. "Steph…I don't want you to go. We…we can find another way. We can…save you."

By this time Paul was so emotional, he was choking on his words. Stephanie grabbed him, as forcefully as she could, and he hugged her protectively. _"I don't want you to go,"_ he kept repeating. _"I don't want to lose you. I love you. Please don't leave. Please don't leave me…" _

Stephanie didn't know when she stopped hearing him and began to hear the heart monitor beep rapidly, forming a flat line on the monitor. She heard Paul yell and sob and suddenly she realized that her chest felt like it was on fire…she wasn't breathing. She was going into cardiac arrest. _It was time_. She felt the presence of other people. Everyone came rushing in. The doctors, her family, and her friends. The doctors had to pry Paul away from Stephanie, but she wouldn't let go. She held onto her hand and mouthed to him; _'Let me go, Paul. Please. Let go'_.

He held Stephanie's gaze until her eyelids fell as Paul was continually shaking his head and refusing to let her go. He looked around the room. Everyone was crying and Linda and Vince were in hysterics. He felt like he was dreaming; as if he was looking down at his own body, as well as everyone else, from above. He felt helpless; he was frozen in place, in time. He saw John grab one of the doctors forcefully and shove them to Stephanie's side shouting, "Help her!" Paul watched as they opened Stephanie's gown to reveal her bra and they shocked her with the paddles. He wanted to stop them to say that she had made up her mind and that he needed to respect it, but he couldn't speak. They shocked her again and still nothing. Paul fell to his knees as the realization hit him hard…Stephanie was dead.

* * *

**22 YEARS LATER**

Paul woke up to hearing voices downstairs. Frowning, he looked at the clock, which read one in the afternoon, and sighed as he forced himself out of the bed. He slipped a shirt over his chest and went downstairs as he rubbed his eyes. "Ouch…dammit!" he cursed as he hit his toe on the wood railing. "Who fucking built the stairs like that?" he yelled in pain. He hopped his way downstairs into the kitchen where he saw three women standing in the kitchen talking amongst themselves.

One of the women, a slender browned headed blue eyed beauty, looked at Paul with concern. "Are you alright Dad?"

He waved it off and shrugged. "I'm fine." The other two women, a brunette and blond, laughed at him. "You think that's funny?" he sneered at them.

"I think it's hilarious," the blonde said. "The former ten time champion is bitching about a toe."

Aurora laughed in amusement. "Yeah Dad, didn't you like hurt your leg two different times?"

"Yes…but I got through it."

"Just like you'll get through the stubbed toe," Amy agreed smiling.

Paul pointed at her. "Even though I know that was sarcasm, at least you said it nicer than Trish."

"Hey! I resent that!"

"Resent what?" a new voice said.

Aurora smiled and leapt at the new voice, hugging him tightly. "Uncle Shane!"

Shane smiled at his niece. "Wow, you haven't been this excited since you started dating that guy."

"What guy?" Paul asked angrily and stunned.

Aurora shot Shane a look and he swallowed hard. "Did I say guy? I meant to say…buy. Since she bought that, uh, thing."

Trish shook her head. "You just totally ratted her out."

Shane shrugged and looked at them sheepishly. "Did you get it?" Amy asked him.

"What?" Aurora asked.

Shane nodded and held up his car keys. "They're in the trunk."

"What?" Aurora asked again.

Paul grabbed his daughters hand and led her outside to Shane's BMW. "We have something I'd like you to see."

Everyone followed Paul and Aurora outside as her eyes lit up seeing John, Adam, Michael, Randy and her grandmother all waiting outside, leaning on their cars.

"It's about time," Randy grumbled. "We've been waiting out here for hours!"

John raised his eyebrow at Randy. "No we haven't."

"Yeah man, we just got here," Adam added.

Randy frowned. "Well…it felt like hours."

Aurora giggled at them as Shane opened his trunk. She looked inside and frowned. "You want me to watch a bunch of DVD's?" she asked in shock. "You know they're outdated right?"

"Don't worry," Paul said. "I have a DVD player that'll play them."

Aurora picked up one and looked at it. "What is it?"

Everyone looked at Paul as he spoke. "Your mother," he said simply.

Aurora's face fell as she placed it back in the box carefully, then took out the box, and turned to her father. "Then let's watch."

Paul smiled and they all walked into his house. John brought in huge bowls of popcorn as everyone took there place in the living room as Paul played the first DVD on the big screen. Aurora's eyes widened at the first video that she saw played; Stephanie kicking good 'ol JR right where the sun don't shine. "_That's_ my mother?" she asked in incredulity.

Paul chuckled to himself. "Yep…that's her."

"Wow…I love her already."

Everyone laughed as they continued to watch the DVD's, each smiling to each other, knowing that throughout all these years…Stephanie was with them each step.

* * *

On May, 14 2006, Stephanie McMahon and Mindy Rubinstein competed in the first ever Women's Three Stages of Hell match, pulling an all-time favorite and marking Stephanie as the most dominant female in wrestling history. 

On May 28, Stephanie expected her second child; her first died in a car accident before she gave birth.

On September 30, Trish married Ron; Stephanie was her Maid of Honor.

At six twenty seven on the evening on January 13, 2007, Aurora Rose Levesque was born in Greenwich, Connecticut.

On January 13, 2007, at ten after eight, Stephanie Marie McMahon-Levesque died.

On January 18, Amy announced her retirement from Wrestling.

On April 1, 2007, Paul made his return at Wrestlemania.

On May 7, a little over a month later, Paul retired from the WWE.

On August 28, Trish gave birth to a baby girl and named her Stephanie, in honor of her late friend

On September 7 2007, John retired from the WWE and moved back home.

One month later, he married the same woman that Stephanie hooked him up with one year ago.

In December, Randy married his sweetheart; John was his best man and Paul, Trish, the McMahon's, Amy, Adam, and Aurora were guests at the ceremony.

On February 20, 2008, Vincent Kennedy McMahon died from a heart attack.

One month later, Amy Copeland gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl.

John Cena released his second rap album; it came in at number four on the charts and his first single off the album, a song to which he dedicated to Stephanie, stayed at number one for three months.

On April 17, 2008, Paul Levesque, John Cena, Trish Stratus, Amy Dumas, and Stephanie McMahon were inducted in the Hall of Fame.

On November 27th, 2008, Paul released the publishing of a diary of Stephanie's he found months after her death. The entries were put into chapters as it detailed her life with Paul, her friends and the WWE. The book hit number one upon it's release and still holds the spot to this day.

* * *

"My name is Stephanie McMahon-Hemsley! Get it right J.R.!" 

"If it wasn't for The Rock, I would still be your WWF Women's Champion. I held the women's championship for four months, twenty five days, twenty two hours, and forty seven minutes, and I always carried the championship with dignity, honor and pride. And now, who is your women's champion? A tattooed, lowlife, low class bimbo!

"I am the most dominant female in this industry!"

"So, you all think I'm a bitch, huh? Well, you're right. Because The Bitch…is back!"

_-Stephanie McMahon_

Did we create a modern myth  
Did we imagine half of it  
Would happen in a thought from now

Save yourself  
Save yourself  
The secret is out  
The secret is out

To buy the truth  
And sell a lie  
The last mistake before you die  
So don't forget to breathe tonight  
Tonight's the last so say good-bye

The secret is out _x4_

Good-bye _x16_

Good-bye

_- A Modern Myth 30 Seconds To Mars_


End file.
